Robyn Miles / Daily News
Teacher Brittany Comerford paints the hand of kindergartner Kei-Nadia Young at Cannon Street Elementary School on Wednesday’s first day of classes. After hearing a story called ‘The Kissing Hand,’ the students drew a picture of their family. They then pressed their painted hands on a piece of paper, and added their picture and this poem.
Teacher Brittany Comerford paints the hand of kindergartner Kei-Nadia Young at Cannon Street Elementary School on Wednesday’s first day of classes. After hearing a story called ‘The Kissing Hand,’ the students drew a picture of their family. They then pressed their painted hands on a piece of paper, and added their picture and this poem.
“Overall, this was a typical first day of school,” said John Radcliffe, the school system’s assistant superintendent of maintenance and operations.
Beginning the year with big changes in transportation and food service, the school system cruised over a few bumps in the road while working to make everything more cost-effective.
Students across the system seemed to like the new food service program outsourced through Sodexo Inc. in Gaithersburg, Md. The group was hired to increase food quality while upgrading professionalism and management.
“Based on the number of clean plates being returned, having more choices seems to be very popular with the children,” Radcliffe said. “The added selection did contribute to some lunch delays at a few schools, however. As our food service professionals adapt to the changes and perfect the new system, we hope to be right on schedule quickly.”
Transportation also saw a few hiccups due to a bridge closure in the Troup High School zone. After the entire bus route system was overhauled over the past months to increase productivity, the closure required officials to remap the Troup zone within a week.
“Systemwide, routes have been adjusted to achieve greater efficiency,” Radcliffe said. “We are putting together a task force to evaluate transportation registration and the route assignment process.”
Transporting more than 8,000 students can be a challenge, and working out any bugs in the new system requires waiting until all the students ride the buses for a day or two.
“We recognize that things did not go as smoothly this year as they have in the past, especially in the Troup zone. However, staff is making every effort to quickly resolve the issues,” he said.
Copies of all the bus lists, stop times and drivers can be viewed at the school system website at www.troup.org under the bus routes menu on the left side of the screen.
“We would appreciate the community’s patience as we work to make the program more efficient and cost-effective while maintaining safety as our top priority,” Radcliffe said.
Trey Wood can be reached at twood@ lagrangenews.com or (706) 884-7311, Ext. 228.
Stop being such a complainer.
Since you seem to be aware of all of the school systems problems why don't you seek employment there and fix them. Or you could just drive your child to school and pack them a lunch and quit complaining so much. Sheesh.
As far as lunches, two children in the system and both complained about the lunches still being cold. One had spaghetti and said it did not appear to have been heated after they originally cooked it.
Another lie by our school system. Where is the accountability? Also if you call, they will pass the buck. No one wants to take the blame for the malfunctions. It is always some one elses fault.