school buses

As we have been sharing throughout the past year, school districts across the country are experiencing a workforce shortage, specifically, a significant shortage of bus drivers. Despite this shortage, Affton School District anticipates starting the 2022-23 school year with eight bus drivers -- the same number we had when last school year ended.

To help increase the number of students who receive transportation, we are implementing the following changes:

  • Our Transportation Department is creating routes with a transportation management software to ensure better accuracy and efficiency in filling each bus to capacity.

  • Bus routes for each school will shift from eight routes with limited capacity and 30 minutes between each school to four routes at full capacity with an hour per school. 

    • You may notice that your student’s bus route is longer than in years past, but this shift should help increase the geographic area covered and the number of students per school able to receive transportation.

  • These changes will not affect the established start and end times of our schools:

    • Affton High School - 7:30 a.m. (Students can be dropped off beginning at 7:10 a.m.)

    • Rogers Middle School - 8:00 a.m. (Students can be dropped off beginning at 7:40 a.m.)

    • Gotsch Intermediate - 8:30 a.m. (Students can be dropped off beginning at 8:10 a.m.)

    • Mesnier Primary - 9:00 a.m. (Students can be dropped off beginning at 8:40 a.m.)

We anticipate that transportation notices will go out to families next week. As a reminder, the deadline to request bus transportation is this Sunday, August 7, by completing online registration. 

Please note that students who qualify for transportation services from Special School District (SSD) and the Voluntary Interdistrict Choice Corporation (VICC) program will continue to receive bus transportation by SSD or VICC. Additional information will be provided to those families directly from these programs.