school buses

Central Valley will resume regular bus transportation on Wednesday, Dec. 15.

The return to normal became possible when Birnie Bus informed the district that it would be able to provide Central Valley with buses and drivers. The announcement was unexpected, but welcome.

"I was not very hopeful at the end our conversations with Birnie late yesterday," said Superintendent Jeremy Rich. "I had expected that it would be after break before we would get past this. Instead, they were able to work through their challenges, rework their plans, and get us drivers beginning tomorrow. We are grateful for their efforts to get our students back in school."

In a video yesterday, Mr. Rich had reached out to the community, asking parents to find ways to get their children to school.

"Our months of remote learning under COVID showed us that remote is a poor substitute for in-person with a teacher," he said. "Knowing that, we asked our parents to become a part of the solution by finding ways to get children to school. I was not sure what to expect, but this community did the impossible. Roughly 85 percent of our students were in school today. Those students who were not able to be here were able to join in via Zoom."

He also pointed to the teachers and school staff who stepped up to accept the challenge.

"I walked through the halls at Fisher and saw people going above and beyond for kids. I heard the same thing from the other buildings," he said. "I was pleased and impressed by what I saw."

"I also understand that today is about more than just educating our students.  It is about coming together for a greater good and pushing through—even though it is difficult.  If we turn back, we will never get to where we are going. Today, we did not turn back. Today, we focused on keeping kids in a routine and enabling parents to go to work and continue putting food on their tables. It moved most of us out of our routines, but it reinforced the importance doing what we have to do and keeping things as normal as possible as we continue to fight for our students.”