By Rupert Howell

South Panola School District will change its method of listing school bus turn-arounds following a meeting of supervisors Cole Flint and Kelly Morris with the school district’s superintendent.

Superintendent Dr. Keith Shaffer told his board Tuesday during their regular monthly meeting that the district would present Panola County a list of current turn-arounds during the first days or weeks of school opening and add to the list as needed.

Currently the school district adds to an ongoing list but retains former turn-arounds on the list  that is never purged.

Shaffer explained to his school board Tuesday night that 68 buses have to start and stop somewhere each day and that some students may live at the end of a road or the end of the route.

He previously noted bus drivers change, routes change, students’ residences change and safety concerns are all factors in where turn-arounds are placed.

He said he explained the current procedure with the supervisors who were understanding but, “Don’t want to see old ones (turnarounds) on the list.”

He further explained that by keeping the old ones on the list, it could easily be maintained when needed for a future turn-around if the route changed back to that particular location.

Shaffer said that in the process judgement calls are sometimes made by the school board, supervisors and the road department.

Trustee board member Lygunnah Bean who also serves as the county’s road department manager said, “Normally, the only time we work a school bus turn-around is when Scootie (SP District Transportation Director Scootie Murphree) or one of the bus drivers calls us.”

School bus turn-arounds have long been suspected as a way of gaining political favor since former Governor Ray Mabus’ assault on county fraud when he was Mississippi’s state auditor and put a stop to supervisors’ maintenance of driveways in the 1980s.

The law now gives school boards the authority to request their county board of supervisors to maintain drives where school buses park at night or turn around during their route. The law does not require supervisors to maintain turn-arounds but gives them the authority to do so at the request of the school board.

Shaffer also noted that some areas, such as Enid Shores Subdivision, are private roads stating, “The whole subdivision is actually a long driveway. We’ve asked them to handle those particular areas.”

When the issue arose before the board of supervisors in the February 6 meeting, supervisor board president Morris said, “We are not against turn-arounds, we would just like to see the list purged.”

The supervisor board then voted 4-1 to halt work on turn-arounds until they are given a purged list with District Two Supervisor Vernice Avant casting the dissenting vote.
Her district includes much of the North Panola District whose board was scheduled to meet last night.