Buses rolling back to school

As Bus 106 approached on Wednesday morning, Johnston students bound for Sarah Dyer Barnes Elementary School could postpone the end of summer no longer. The first day of school had arrived.

At the sight of the bus, kids leapt off swingsets or thundered down front steps. After disentangling themselves from mothers who demanded just one more kiss on the cheek, students were once again greeted by bus driver Tina Sundstrom, who was excited to see familiar faces on the route she’s driven for six years.

Bus 106 is one of 32 buses in the school district, and on Wednesday morning, it had two extra passengers. Mayor Joseph Polisena Jr. and Superintendent Scott Sutherland donned reflective vests and boarded the bus to greet students and parents at stops throughout the neighborhood, wishing them well for the new school year ahead. Both said that the highlight of the day was getting to interact with kids.

The bus ride was a great opportunity for the new superintendent to meet parents and students in the district, especially after the recorded message Sutherland sent out to families last night led to some confusion with its robotic tone. After struggling to record a message in his own voice last night, he said, he had to resort to text-to-speech because the software refused to record more than eight seconds of him talking. Going forward, though, he said that Johnston families can expect to hear their superintendent’s real voice on recorded messages.