As he stepped onto the bus on the first day of school, Santosh felt mixed emotions. On one hand, he was excited to start his senior year at EBHS and see his friends again after two months, but on the other hand, he missed staying up late at night and waking up leisurely at 9am. It was 7:45 in the morning and the sun was barely up when he realized that the bus took an unusual turn past a sign that read “Thanks for visiting East Brunswick!”. Panic set in. First period would start in 10 minutes! The bus driver was lost and could not use her GPS to find a way back. Luckily, Santosh and the other students on the bus were able to work together to guide the bus driver back to EB from South River.

Thankfully, Santosh’s experience was an isolated event, but many students encountered other bussing problems on their first day. I, for example, was 10 minutes late for my first-period class because of the buses. The attendance office noticed similar issues: they said that several buses were late, too early, or sometimes completely missing some stops. The people most affected by this problem are students who rely on the buses coming to school on time to eat breakfast. My bus driver said the bus driver shortage could be one of the causes of this problem. Her solution to this problem was to “hire more bus drivers!”

Attendance issues aren’t only affected by bus problems, though. I asked Ms. Amrani what she wants students to keep in mind to make attendance run smoothly. She said, “Keep the absences to the minimum” and “Bring notes for absence.” Making these simple adjustments this year is critical because the attendance policy has changed. Last year students were allowed 18 absences which have changed to just 10. Whether your bus goes on a tour of New Jersey before the first bell or not, it is important to track your absences to prevent loss of credit.