CATOOSA — School Transportation Director Chester Knight said Catoosa buses will pick up Keetonville area students as close to their homes as possible this school year.

“We’re adding a route to accommodate the students on the north and south ends of Keetonville Road due to the road closing,” said Knight. “The route itself, round trip, is 46 miles. We actually drive 23 miles before we make the first pick-up.”

The additional miles and fuel costs are worth the safety advantages gained by the longer route, said Knight.

Knight spent much of the summer seeking solutions to the transportation problem posed by the Keetonville Road closure. At the end of the last school year, parents had to drive those extra miles, transporting students to a pick up location at the Port of Catoosa, then waiting until the bus arrived.

Superintendent Rick Kibbe promised the school would work out a better solution for this year.

“Our transportation director Chester Knight did a lot of research on (the route),” said Kibbe. “He has the situation resolved. We’re very fortunate we have a transportation director that’s taking responsibility. He’s not even on the payroll this summer, and he’s spent a lot of hours trying to work that out.”

Knight is also the assistant high school principal. He said the middle school and high school bus will leave Catoosa at 6:05 a.m.

“That should accommodate the students to be here to eat breakfast at 7:15,” said Knight. “We’ll turn right around and run the route again for our elementary students, hopefully getting them on campus by about 8:15 or 8:20.”

The school will respond to parental input once the route is in place. Time elements may be adjusted to accommodate students better once the route is up and running.

Parents are happy students will be picked up closer to home, said Knight.

“We feel like this is the best strategy right now,” said Knight. “We’ll go all the way to Keetonville Road on the north and to the soccer complex, then make our way back down Highway 20. We’re not going up driveways or anything like that, but most of the houses are on the road.”

“As we’re coming back, we’ll get on (Highway) 266 and go to the south end of Keetonville Road and go north to make a turnabout at the barricade and then make our way back to pick those students up.”