Thick fog forces Valley school districts to delay or cancel bus routes

TULARE COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) -- On foggy days, transportation directors across South Valley school districts are making one of the most important calls: whether to delay or cancel school buses due to dangerously low visibility.

"Probably about 5:30 opening the door, seeing if we are foggy. I have four or five spotters, plus I call the surrounding schools around me," says Pixley Union School District Transportation Director Shelly Munoz. "If we are poll to poll, then I put us on a foggy day schedule."

Munoz has been driving buses for 28 years.

She was once a student at Pixley Union School District; now she's the Transportation Director.

Their buses take almost half of their 800 students to campus.

"It is a huge responsibility because I don't want to let anyone down, I know these 5 to 6, 7 drivers I have are counting on me to keep them safe as well," says Munoz

While a foggy day schedule may cause some delays and changes to people's morning routines, parents Action News spoke with say they don't mind as long as their children are getting to school safely.

"You know that's the important thing to me, is for the kids to be safe, especially the kids that have to walk and the buses that pick up kids out of town," says Ramon Barajas.

Some Pixley students are part of the Tulare Joint Union High School District.

More than half of its 5,600 students take the bus to school.

The district has one of the largest coverage areas by square mileage in rural Tulare County.

Foggy days also mean delayed school starts.

"It is also making sure that our bus drivers are able to spot the students at their bus stops because it is out in the country, sometimes it's an open area," says Tulare Union Joint School District Superintendent Dr. Lucy Van Scyoc.

Local leaders say it's days like these that serve as a reminder of the significant role of bus drivers.

"It's critically important there is a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes that most of us are not aware of," says Pixley Union School District Superintendent Carlos Peralta.

Canceled classes are made up at the end of the year.

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