Rain forces Florida bus routes to be canceled, leaving rural students with no ride to school

Rural students in one school district in the Florida Panhandle are having a hard time getting to school. Bay District Schools refuses to send its buses down dirt roads or roads that might be under water. As a result of recent rain, 204 students at Waller Elementary School in Panama City stayed home Thursday, Jacqueline Bostick reports for The News Herald. It's the second time this school year that students skipped school because an active bus stop was too far away and they lacked alternate transportation. (Wikipedia map of Bay County)

Bob Downin, director of transportation, said 16 bus routes, all in the northern part of Bay County "were affected by the school district’s decision not to go down dirt roads or roads underwater," Bostick writes. Downin told her, "We sent out alerts to parents saying that we will not go down any dirt roads, we will not go down any roads that were covered in water for the safety of the kids and they would have to get their kids to school." (Read more)