Hello Pine Bush families and staff,

I spoke with the building leaders in all of our schools late this afternoon to make sure everything is in place for tomorrow’s new bus routes and our resumption of school. You should also be hearing from your child’s principal by email and or voicemail sometime this evening.

In order to get double runs of busses to and from several schools, some of our schools have adjusted their schedules temporarily to make this all work. PBE and CES have shortened their day by trimming time from unified arts classes, and all three of our secondary schools have shortened each instructional period to produce a shortened day that allows more time for those double bus runs. While we have shortened the instructional day for the next few weeks, know that our goal has been to get and keep all our kids into school for full-time, in-person instruction. Our last resort is a return to remote instruction, but that option will be available to us as the year progresses in case we need to use it.

I know that for most of our working parents, these adjustments are disruptive and frustrating. Please know that we are working hard to compensate for the current driver shortage, while we also are hard at work to fashion a more permanent solution. We predict that should happen in the next four to eight weeks. Then we can go back to our regular schedule. As all of this is going on, please be reminded that our current bus drivers are not the problem. They are showing up each day to transport your children to school. If you get a chance to thank any of them, I know they would appreciate it. Many will be driving additional runs during this temporary fix.

Finally, I would remind you that with newly structured school days and re-programmed bus routes, tomorrow will basically be a new “first day of school.” Like any first day, there may be more unanticipated challenges, so I ask for your continued patience.

Have a pleasant evening,

Tim O. Mains, Pine Bush Superintendent