Fairbanks: The Spirit For In-School Learning Is Strong, But The School Bus System Is Weak

Kids In Fairbanks Will Get School Bus Service On Alternating Weeks Until Christmas Break 

A shortage in trained bus drivers has hit Fairbanks hard. In early October, the district announced it was going to do something radical to solve it. Half the kids will take a school bus one week, and then the next week, the other half will get to ride the buses.

How will the "off group" get to school? That's their problem. 

On the week that kids in one of the groups are being picked up, the other group's students "will need to use alternative transportation," according a posting at 10:29 am on the school district's Facebook site. The plan will be used at least until the winter break, in December, the site says. 

 
This has evidently not gone over very well for the city's parents. Within hours, it had generated 186 Facebook comments on the district site. Said one mother: "Unacceptable, what a mess". 

There are 35 public schools in Fairbanks.