SAN ANTONIO – Friday night soccer motion will get started somewhat later for San Antonio’s two biggest faculty districts.
A bus driver scarcity, ongoing development and rush hour visitors has compelled North East and Northside ISDs to bump all their Friday games back to 7:30 p.m.
“In the big picture, it definitely is better for all of our students and all of our community,” mentioned Alfonso Alvarado, O’Connor HS director of bands.
Alvarado has been the band director at O’Connor High School for 6 years. Last week, his band, made up of 225 scholars, was once held up in heavy visitors and congestion and neglected some pregame actions earlier than O’Connor performed Johnson at Comalander Stadium.
“We were able to get there safely and be a little behind, but nonetheless, we were there to support the team,” mentioned Alvarado.
Both districts agreed this week to transfer kickoff back to accommodate bus drivers and the opposite scholars concerned with Friday night soccer.
“It was kind of a perfect storm. It’s a shortage of bus drivers, the timing of when schools are letting out and it’s also the construction is going on Loop 1604,” mentioned Kelly Parker, NEISD government director of athletics.
The previous get started time was once placing a pressure on drivers taking children house after which returning to campus.
“We were already running double runs at the elementary level, at the middle school level, at the high school level,” mentioned Tesi Soliz, NISD director of transportation. “By the time the bands, pep squads were requesting us, we’re still running kids home.”
Soliz mentioned this could also be an indication of the expansion within the house.
“Taft, Harlan, Sotomayor, Brennan — all of these high schools are in one of the fastest growing zip codes in the nation. The infrastructure hasn’t caught up with the growth,” mentioned Soliz. “We can have the best laid out plans to get our kids to from point A to point B on time, but because of traffic, that is really putting a wrench in a lot of our plans.”
The hope is now everybody that makes Friday night soccer nice can get to the games safely and on time.
“People emailed us, called us with their concerns about it and wanted to know what we’re doing and how we can fix this, and we’ve listened to them,” mentioned Parker.
“We take at least 14 buses to a game. I think the district does an amazing job. Our drivers do an amazing job,” mentioned Alvarado.
Officials from each districts mentioned the time trade is anticipated to stay in position for the remainder of the common season most effective on Friday nights. Thursday and Saturday get started instances may not be affected.
“Our athletic department, fine arts director, they do an outstanding job of communicating. We’re the largest district in San Antonio. We have over 100,000 students to try to get from point A to point B very safely,” mentioned Alvarado. “I think our district has done a really good job taking care of our students and obviously, safety is always top priority.”
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