Hall County

School system overhauling two-way radios on buses

HALL COUNTY, Ga. — School officials in Hall County say there are times when their bus drivers radio in and nobody can hear them.

So the district is overhauling its two-way radio system.

The district transports 20,000 students a day on its 400 buses.

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It is the job of Clay Hobbs to be ready for the worst-case scenario.

"If we have an incident at a school, we want to be able to stop those buses driving into an unsafe situation,” Hobbs said.

Hobbs is the district’s transportation director.

He says the two-way radio system aboard the buses is not good enough.

He says there are dead spots across nearly 20 percent of the county where the radios will not work.

The district will spend nearly $200,000 to go digital, with nearly 100 percent coverage.

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Parents like Marcia Harbin say it is worth every cent.

"Especially to get in touch with the school to let them know of any problem--not to come back to the school or if it's on lockdown,” Harbin said.

Hobbs says school security has always been a top priority, but even more so since last February’s mass shooting at a school in Florida.

Officials want to always be in direct communication with the bus drivers, no matter where the bus is.

"It's vital, to be honest. Communication in today's world between the transportation department and the bus drivers is a necessity,” Hobbs said.

Officials say the new two-way radios will be aboard all the buses by the end of December.