Five minutes prior to the bell, CHS9 students speed walk through the hallways carrying color guard rifles, various types of band instruments and bags stuffed full of athletic equipment.
Outside, a yellow school bus is waiting to transport them three miles away to Coppell High School. The ride should take around eight minutes, but with traffic and construction delays, the ride can sometimes take up to 15 minutes.
CHS follows a strict schedule with every minute of the school day planned out with 90-minute classes. CHS9 Algebra I/Geometry teacher Shane Knights notices how difficult shuttling can be for students and teachers alike.
“Things go out of plan when you have to deal with people who have to shuttle in or shuttle out.” Knights said. “If you’re shuttling in, then you probably get caught up in traffic on Denton Tap and Belt Line, so you lose a lot of time at the beginning of class. If you shuttle at the end of class, you are missing out on the exit ticket and important reminders from the teacher.”
Those first and last five minutes of class are crucial for students. Teachers often use that time to review or announce extra updates about assignments and upcoming tests. For freshmen who shuttle, missing this information can leave them in the dark, making it even more stressful to keep up with their classes.
It can be especially difficult to squeeze in tutoring sessions before school or after school if students need help for classes at CHS because they do not have time to catch a shuttle bus.
Andrea Voelker is the only Chinese teacher in Coppell ISD, and her Chinese I class is predominantly freshmen students. Getting these students the help they need is a difficult task for teachers.
“It does get hard if they do not come early in the morning, I have no other way to tutor with them,” Voelker said.
Although it is difficult, freshmen typically only shuttle for one year of high school. Having classes at CHS helps students build connections with people that they wouldn’t otherwise interact with.
“It’s a good chance for them to come to the big campus and not only be in classes with freshmen,” Voelker said.
Freshman Charvi Vohra starts her B days at CHS for band class and shuttles back to CHS9 afterwards for the rest of her day. When shuttles depart late from CHS, communication is key to making sure things go back to running smoothly.
“It’s been happening recently that the shuttles are late and class would start without us,” Vohra said. “Usually our band directors will send out an email telling our teachers the shuttle is going to be late.”
According to Coppell High School Principal Laura Springer, shuttles have been better this year with less construction on the bus routes, but there is no perfect solution to the problem of getting students to class on time.
“We can plan 1,000 ways to get those shuttles here on time, but you don’t know what the traffic is going to be on any given day,” Springer said. “It’s just hard. We are doing the best we can with what we got.”
With shuttle buses being so hectic for everyone, administrators, students and teachers alike have to work hard to ensure that the shuttle system runs smoothly.
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