More Green Country Schools Welcome Students Back To School On Thursday

NewsOn6.com

BROKEN ARROW, OK -- Many school districts across eastern Oklahoma returned to the classroom on Thursday.  The list includes Jenks, Bixby, Broken Arrow and some private schools. 

Speaking of Broken Arrow, they are waiting on the arrival of 30 new school buses.  The new buses are not expecting to arrive until later this month or early next month. 

The new buses include 14 regular buses, 14 special education buses and two white activity buses. 

This is good news for the school district, because Broken Arrow transports roughly 8,400 students to and from school each and every day. 

The buses will have passive GPS systems that allow tracking as the buses follow their routes.

One change will be felt as soon as students step on board.

"Well, we have what we call a pebble tread coming up the stairs to give more traction for students," said David Haines, director of transportation for Broken Arrow Public Schools.

Meanwhile, the older buses in the fleet have new safety features this year, including special cameras onboard the buses allowing the district to check where they are and see what happening onboard. 

"Our drivers are trained well. We're proud of our trainer; we're proud of our safety record.  That doesn't mean we haven't been involved in accidents, but most of them are minor fender benders," Haines said.

School officials say the last thing anybody wants is a traffic accident.

8/11/2010 Related story: School Began Today For Some Green Country Schools

We've never had anybody - as far as students - transported from an accident scene to the hospital," he said.