We are excited to announce a change in leadership within our Transportation Department. Ms. Arlene Mann, who has served our district as the Dispatcher for over 7 years and as a driver for the department since 1993, has been promoted to Supervisor of Transportation.

As you now know, BusPatrol outfitted the entire fleet of Garnet Valley buses with automated enforcement technology to detect the license plates of vehicles that fail to stop for school buses, putting children at risk.

Fire alarms at GVMS were triggered by an issue in one of our Family and Consumer Science classrooms. As a result an evacuation was held. Due to the time of day and the number of students and employees outside of the building, our buses and district transportation will be delayed. All buildings will be affected.

Our administrative team has been working to support our new transportation supervisor to navigate the opening and through this support, we have identified areas of improvement. These improvements will begin on Monday, September 12th.

There was an accident on Route 1 between Stoney Bank and Valleybrook Roads. Currently, the district transportation fleet has no access to Walnut Hill, Brandywine Circle, Lydia Hollow, or Bonnie Lane. Emergency Management Services estimate that it could be close to 10AM before the issue is resolved.

Today, one of our school buses caught fire while it was receiving repairs to its electrical system at our maintenance garage. The bus maintenance garage is located behind the high school. Since the bus was proactively identified as needing repair, there were no students or drivers on board.

Effective February 25, 2022, CDC does not require wearing of masks on buses or vans operated by public or private school systems, including early care and education/child care programs." As a result of this change, masks are encouraged but not required on Garnet Valley School District transportation.

The next step for our district considers transitioning from masks required in all district buildings to masks recommended, thus giving students and employees a choice based on their comfort and needs.

October 18-22, 2021 is National School Safety Week. Garnet Valley School District will work with local authorities and PennDOT to implement Operation Safe Stop on October 20th.