Much to the frustration of many parents -- and the unbridled glee of their kids -- the Broward County School Board overhauled their school bus routes, and now everything has gone completely nuts.
And by nuts, we mean utter and complete chaos.
On Tuesday, bus drivers from Broward crashed a school board meeting to complain about bad routes that are screwing with their schedules. Some said they didn't receive their new routes until they went into work on the first day of school this Monday.
District officials say they're working to hire more drivers and clean up the bad routes mess. But so far, the first week of school has been a clustercrap for many parents whose kids have either arrived very late to school, or were just never picked up at all.
School superintendent Robert Runcie blames all the issues on the overhaul of the bus routes, a glitch in the routing software (just unplug it... wait ten seconds... plug it back in), and the larger-than-usual number of kids needing to be taken to and from school.
IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO DO OUR JOB PICKING UP KIDS WHEN THERE ARE KIDS TO PICK UP, YOU SEE!
Some kids are being left stranded at school, while others need to be at their bus stop at the ass-crack of dawn so they don't miss their bus.
School bus union reps blame Runcie and his decision to bring in a transportation administrator from Chicago, who apparently has no idea where Broward County actually is. Okay, maybe he does, but he's certainly unfamiliar with the routes.
Meanwhile, bus drivers are being forced to learn their new routes on the fly, literally holding the new route map with one hand, and driving with the other. Because safety is overrated, man.
For now, parents and bus drivers alike have to weather the storm while they wait for things to change and smooth over. Runcie's going to have to get himself a fake mustache to wear to work. Hey, it's as good as an idea as his "there's a glitch in the computer!" story.
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