CENTERVILLE — St. Mary Parish students will have realigned bus routes as they return to classes Thursday, something Superintendent Buffy Fegenbush says will create shorter transportation times for students.

"St. Mary Parish is very geographically spread out, and so there are some areas where transportation to school in the morning can be quite lengthy," Fegenbush said. 

Fegenbush says they have revised their older bus routes to pick up fewer students in an area, but it's a more direct route to and from school. 

"So, the students that we are working with don't have to sit on a bus or wait, or, like you said, get up as early, they can sleep in a little bit and be a little happier when they get to school," she said.

Before the first day of school, Fegenbush advises parents to prepare. She says they can find the new bus stops on the district's website. 

"For them, it may not seem like that big of a change, but for us, we know what we've done in order to make it a little smoother," Fegenbush said

Fegenbush added that security is one of their strong points. 

She says the district has been working on security and safety updates for the past few years, with single-point entries, walk-through metal detectors and school resource officers across the parish. 

"We have seven school resource officers that we use. Some of them are community-based, some of them work with our Sheriff's department, but they service different schools in our community, and of course, if there's any, they go automatically to where that might be. So that's worked really well for us," Fegenbush said. 

Fegenbush says to have everything ready in advance and work with the schools if there are any concerns about things like schedules. She also encourages parents to check in with their children now to make sure they have a positive start to the new school year.

"Are there any concerns you have this year? What are you excited about? What are your goals for this year? Maybe, just understand what it is they're trying to get out of their process of everyday going to school and then find out how we can help them, cause that's really important," she said.

Fegenbush added that all 21 schools' principals will be returning for the new school year. She says this is important because it shows consistency. 

"And with our assistant principalships and deans, we've only had really one new person entering into those roles. There's just been some shifts. I think that's really important because it shows that consistency, they'll know the faces and the people that they're working with. So that's a great thing," she said.