A new school year starts Monday. Here’s what Wake County families need to know.

More than 160,000 Wake County students will return to class on Monday when traditional-calendar schools open for the first day of school.

Here are some things families in North Carolina’s largest school district should know before their children start the new school year.

Bus routes

A successful push to recruit new school bus drivers means school officials say they won’t have to make transportation service cuts to the 75,000 students who ride daily.

Wake officials say there are 740 full-time bus drivers — one for every bus that will be on the road for the new school year. It’s the same number of buses that officials say they put on the road last school year, which is a victory for a district that has had a hard time finding enough drivers.

Four years ago, Wake started the school year with 891 buses in service. But a shortage of available drivers has caused Wake to reduce how many buses are on the road, which has led to students walking further to catch buses that are more crowded.

Wake raised salaries and launched a new recruitment campaign that’s led to 1,500 driver applications and 200 hires since September 2017.

Parents can go to wcpss.net/routes to find out about bus routes. Families can use the Here Comes the Bus app to track their child’s bus.

Families are encouraged to be patient during the start of the school year as students adjust to riding the bus and routes are revised. Parents who have transportation questions can go to wcpss.net/transportation for more information.

For those who’d prefer public transit over a school bus, teens can ride for free on GoTriangle, GoRaleigh, GoCary and GoDurham buses if they sign up for the new Youth GoPass program. Go to gotriangle.org/locations to find out how to get a free pass.

Students at seven Raleigh schools in the district — Broughton, Enloe, Mary Phillips and Millbrook high schools, the Wake Early College of Health and Sciences and Ligon and Moore Square middle schools — are piloting promotion of Youth GoPass.

More security at schools

Parents and other school visitors will need to be patient trying to get into Wake County schools this fall.

Wake has finished installing entry buzzers and security cameras at the front entrances of all 187 schools. Since 2013, the district has been steadily upgrading existing schools with these security features while installing them at all new schools.

Concerns about school safety have increased since the Feb. 14 mass school shooting in Parkland, Florida, that left 17 people dead. Various ideas have been suggested for making school buildings more secure.

Schools don’t typically lock the front door when students arrive in the morning. But the buzzer systems are in use the rest of the day.

The school system is also teaming up with the FBI and local law enforcement agencies to warn students to think before they post threats that could lead to suspensions and criminal charges. The Wake County school system has an anonymous tipline, 919-856-1911, for reporting potential threats.

More expensive to eat and park at school

It will cost Wake families more money to send their children to school this fall.

School lunch prices are increasing by 20 cents to $2.55 for elementary schools and $2.80 for middle schools and high schools. Child nutrition officials say the increase is necessary to maintain menu and service quality, replace aging equipment and remain fiscally sound.

Lunch prices have risen 55 cents over the past three years as Wake has dealt with federal school lunch program mandates.

Families are also forking over an extra $30 a year to get a high school student parking space. Wake raised the fee for the first time in 10 years to help close a budget shortfall.

Wake’s new $200 annual parking fee is double what other Triangle school districts are charging and also higher than what other large North Carolina school systems charge.

No more valedictorians

The new school year will mark the first time that Wake County high school seniors will not compete to be named valedictorian.

Most Wake high schools used to name a valedictorian and a salutatorian — titles that go to the seniors with the two highest grade-point averages in their graduating class. But now schools will use the Latin honors system, which is modeled on how colleges and universities recognize top-achieving graduates.

Under the new system, seniors with a weighted GPA of 4.25 or higher will receive the distinction summa cum laude. Those with a weighted GPA of 4.0 to 4.249 will get the distinction magna cum laude, and those with a weighted GPA of 3.75 to 3.99 will receive the designation cum laude.

School leaders say the new system is a better way to recognize more students, particularly those who may have barely missed being named valedictorian or salutatorian by several decimal places. Officials also say it will also end the “unhealthy competition” which resulted from students taking courses designed to get the highest GPA as opposed to ones they might be interested in taking.

This story was originally published August 23, 2018 at 11:46 AM.