Idaho Department of Education gearing up for back to school

It's back-to-school time again. The preparation from the Department of Education happening now can set the foundation for a successful school year.

• The three-day conference for transportation employees and officials is part of Idaho Code.
• The Department of Education revises training annually to make sure they're providing the most up to date standard and information for trainers.
• While most school districts have stayed the course, some, such as Nampa School District, have seen major upheavals coming into this school year, but growth is a common theme for many of them and that is not lost on the Department of Education.

( Below is the transcript from the broadcast story)

It's that time of year again. Back to school. Vacations done. Parents — perhaps — ready for their student to to get back in the classroom. But it's the preparation from the Department of Education happening now that sets the foundation for a successful school year and it's part of Idaho code.

"The Department of Education revises training annually to make sure we're providing the most up to date standard and information for our trainers to take back to their school districts," the Department of Education's Student Transportation Director Ali Stolzman said.

The conference begins with yearly awards, including spot inspection awards, measuring a district's adherence to the Department of Ed's standards. The state's district's bus companies all descend on CWI's Micron Education Center in Nampa for yearly training.

"On topics ranging from safe transportation of special needs students to routing software and dispatching training," Stolzman adds.

While most school districts have stayed the course, some, such as Nampa School District, have seen major upheavals coming into this school year, but growth is a common theme for many of them and that is not lost on the Department of Education.

"It seems that our local education agencies are struggling a little bit more to hire new drivers and hire people from our communities to fulfill," Stolzman said. "We have drivers who have been driving for years getting ready to retire and we're just struggling to get new drivers, and get new community members to support the school district and our local families to get kids to and from school."