Valley fog causing many school buses to get a late start

FRESNO COUNTY (KFSN) -- Tuesday morning got off to a foggy start in the Valley. So faculty at Washington Union warmed up for a wave of students to roll in later than expected.

Washington Union High School was one of 32 schools on a foggy day school schedule.

"When I was a kid they were great days," said Mike Toste, senior counselor.

Toste grew up walking distance from his alma mater. He said he would take advantage of foggy day school schedules.

"You would have time to come in and get extra help from your teachers. Because the teachers are here on time so it's an excellent time for a tutorial."

Those schedules are determined by the 200 foot rule.

"There has to be 200 feet of visibility for a bus to run. If its less than 200 feet then we have to call a foggy day," said Joey Campbell, Superintendent.

Plan A is called at 6:30 in the morning. Plan B goes into effect at 8:30 and Plan C cancels buses altogether at 10:00.

With 700 of the thousand students at Washington Union High School taking the bus that can drastically impact attendance. Jeopardizing funding from the state.

"If the bus is canceled we'll have possibly 50-percent attendance, so that impacts school aid," said Campbell.

Schools can apply for waivers with the state should it become a burden.

"As long as we have 240 minutes of instructional time we can count it as a school day," said Campbell.

Campbell said they have only had to launch Plan A six times this year and Plan B once-- far fewer than years past. He said Plan C's are rare for their schools.

"The worst case scenario is that you have to add a day to school. We try to avoid that because you have to add it at the end of the year."