Harford students get back on the school bus Monday

School days are fast approaching and for students, gone are the lazy days of summer with late mornings, replaced by the harried early morning rush to go to school.

Second to knowing the start date — which, by the way, is Monday, Aug. 29 for kindergarten through 12th grade and Aug. 31 for pre-kindergarten — one of the most important pieces of information to know is what time the bus comes in the morning.

From the 6 a.m. high school bus pick-ups to the afternoon pre-kindergarten boarding, the school system has released a detailed bus route schedule, down to the bus number, neighborhood and time.

The schedule is available in the Wednesday, Aug. 24 edition of The Aegis and online at the Harford County Public Schools website.

This year, one particular school bus will have an even more interesting ride on the first day of school.

Students on Bus 755, of Deerfield Elementary School, will be joined on their ride into school Monday morning by Superintendent Robert Tomback, school board members and, potentially, elected officials.

Although only a small portion of students will be visited on their first day bus ride, all of the approximately 38,000 students enrolled this year, who use the bus service, will ride on a variety of school owned and contracted buses.

For Harford County Public Schools, according to the Manager of Communications Teri Kranefeld, there are around 500 school buses, including spares, used throughout the county.

Of these 500, private contractors own 384 and 110 are owned by the school system. The school system, overall, is serviced by 39 contractors with certified buses and drivers.

One of these contractors, Rick Ensor, one of the owners of the Corbin Bus Company, said Monday that his company has 37 routes with the school system this year, as well as two activities buses.

"This week we just fine tune the routes and make sure everybody's got the paperwork they need," he said, "and their students lists and, obviously, make sure all of the buses are ready to run."

The Corbin Bus Company runs buses for Bel Air and Edgewood area schools, but does include northern routes for Harford Technical High School. Preparing for the school year involves more than servicing the buses, he said.

For Harford Tech, he said, the company sends out postcards and calls students to inform them of bus schedules and they also have to call schools with pre-school programs to schedule those bus routes.

"It's just a lot of setting up of the routes," he said.

This year in particular is difficult, he added, because of the elementary redistricting process that not only added Red Pump Elementary School to his service district, but involves busing grandfathered fifth-graders.

It is a challenge, Ensor said, because the company received routes they have never had before.

"There might be a lot of late people on Monday," he said, "but we'll see."