Back to School in the Southern Tier

Motorists are reminded to be on the lookout for school children, buses and reduced speed limits in school zones as a regular school year gets back underway after last year’s pandemic modifications.

Drivers could be caught off guard by the irregular school schedule last year but New York has cleared districts for in-person instruction with most public school classes starting today. In addition to a return to regular bus routes, there could still be increased private vehicle traffic as some families are opting to drive children to school individually.

New York school children are being required to wear masks inside buildings as well as on buses and staff and teachers are required to be vaccinated or subject to regular testing for COVID-19 under recently released guidelines from the state.

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Individual district practices can be found on the school websites or parents should contact their district officials.

On another safety front, Broome County has recently rolled out school bus stop arm cameras that capture images of vehicles that illegally pass stopped school buses.  Districts in the county have reported sometimes dozens of cases a day of vehicles that pass a bus that is picking up or discharging children with the stop arm extended and lights flashing.