In addition to student assignment, the Wake County school board will get an update today on the status of a ninth-grade center for Panther Creek High and vote on a plan to give bonuses to bus drivers who show up for work.

Wake says it's having a problem getting bus drivers for all the 40+ buses that had been sidelined at the start of the school year but brought back following the bus complaints. Staff will present this proposal to pay drivers a $250 bonus for their good attendance between Sept. 20 and Nov. 27.

During the work session, the board will hear the latest on the search for a ninth-grade center for Panther Creek High.

Don Haydon has been scheduled to present both items before he resigned Monday as chief of facilities and operations.

UPDATE

Staff explained today that by the end of November they expect to have hired enough permanent drivers to cover all the additional buses. But until then, they said the bonuses could encourage more of the current drivers to come in so they don't have to do as often things like asking mechanics to work overtime to drive.

If successful, the bonus plan could be brought back.

The board approved the bonus plan.

Don Haydon looks to be one of the first casualties of Wake County's school bus problems.

School officials announced today that Haydon had "elected to resign" as chief facilities and operations officer. Haydon will be on paid leave from Tuesday through his Dec. 31 resignation date.

Transportation reports directly to Haydon.

UPDATE

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Costs are going up for Wake County's two new single-sex leadership academies while the delayed sale of the school system's office buildings is cutting into its ability to use its unspent bond money.

Last week, Don Haydon, Wake's chief facilities and operations officer, presented this handout of spending from the current school construction program showing they're projecting $5.1 million in savings. He said it's more than previously projected because they're able to get lower bids now for projects.

But before the board talks about how to spend that $5 million, Haydon said that they need to sell the district's vacated office buildings, including the former headquarters on Wake Forest Road in Raleigh.

The fate of Panther Creek High School's new ninth-grade center is still in limbo.

A July vote blocking the Wake County school system from spending money to set up a modular ninth-grade campus next to Alston Ridge Elementary School still stands. The school board's Democratic majority hasn't called for a revote on that decision that was made when Republicans had control for a day.

During last week's school board work session, board member Deborah Prickett asked staff for an update. Prickett has been a vocal critic of using the M16 site next to Alston Ridge Elementary.

How did the Wake County school bus situation get so bad during the first two weeks of the traditional-calendar school year?

As noted in today's article, a combination of factors led to the problems that caused buses to come late or not all and generated a daily stream of media reports. It ultimately stems back to a desire to save money that led to the adoption of unrealistic bus routes that Wake has tried to remedy by putting back 41 of the 52 buses it had removed from service.

"We focused too much on becoming efficient, getting the right number of kids on the bus up, trying to squeeze too many stops too great a distance, particularly in those instances where we’ve got three tiers: one, two, three schools in a row," Don Haydon, Wake's chief facilities and operations officer told school board members last week.

How much is it costing the Wake County school system to put back into service 41 of the 52 school buses that had been taken off the road at the start of the school year?

As noted in today's article, staff is touting how the new routing system, even with the changes that have been made in the past two weeks, will still save money. They say the cost of putting back the buses isn't as high as it may seem.

"We're still saving," said Superintendent Tony Tata. "We're just not saving as much as we intended."

One consequence of Wake County's school bus problems this year is that students are being kicked off for having musical instruments.

At issue is board policy 7125, which reads "band instruments, projects, and other objects cannot take up pupil seating space or block the aisle." With 52 fewer buses on the road at the start of the school year, those still in service were a lot more crowded so kids with band instruments faced getting the boot from drivers.

On Tuesday, school board member Debra Goldman said it's putting students in the difficult position of being removed from the bus with no other way to get to school or leaving an $1,800 instrument on the side of the curb.

The word for Wake County families who think they were incorrectly denied transportation this school year is to ignore the rejection and request bus service anyway.

Wake County school board member Debra Goldman asked Tuesday about parents who've complained about getting letters saying they had declined transportation when they hadn’t done so. Goldman said Wake needs to get word out to these families that they have the option for bus service.

“I would just simply say for parents to ignore the letter," answered Don Haydon, Wake's chief facilities and operations officer.

There were plenty of apologies and recriminations coming from Wake County school board members on Tuesday over the bus problems.

As noted in today's article, Superintendent Tony Tata and board members apologized to parents and students for the problems last week. But also amid the apologies, the new Democratic board members worked to distance themselves from the problems, blaming staff for telling them they could implement the new transportation plan.

In addition, the choice plan was also a target of the new Democratic board members.

Wake County school administrators didn't provide any dollar amounts tonight on how much it will cost to put the 34 buses back on the road to improve service.

But Don Haydon, chief facilities and operations officer, said one way they're getting the buses on the road is have mechanics who are licensed bus drivers fill in behind the wheel. He said the mechanics are doing the driving on overtime because he doesn't want them to cut back on the time working on the buses.

Haydon stressed that it was only an "interim" measure because he doesn't want to "scrimp" on maintenance. If necessary, Haydon said he'll contract with a company to help pick up some of the maintenance work.

Haydon said they've been hiring more drivers. He said a new class of 23 drivers is now undergoing training to allow the mechanics to go back to their regular duties.