Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools officials say they have taken "all the necessary" steps to ensure the safety of hundreds of students gathering before dawn this week to catch one of the district's new shuttles.

The system, designed to help CMS cope with budget cuts, begins Wednesday morning with the start of the 2010-11 academic year.

Rather than wait at a neighborhood stop, thousands of students attending the district's 11 full magnet schools must go to centralized stops at other area schools, where they can catch a bus to class.

School officials and critics of the plan say the biggest challenges are student safety and traffic flow at the shuttle sites.

"In the morning, there will be a lot of students walking in bus parking lots in the dark," said Gene Hayes, whose son Sylvester will board a bus at Garinger High to get to Phillip O. Berry Academy.

Several other parents who have contacted the Observer in recent days say they are reluctant to leave their children with a large group of students, especially in the dark.

CMS officials say school resource officers and other police, along with staffers from the schools' transportation department, will ensure safety. Officials declined to say how many personnel would be at each site.

Some of the shuttle stops could have at least 200 students waiting. Paw Creek Elementary, for example, will be a stop for six other schools; North Mecklenburg High will serve five.

Officials say the stops for the different destinations will be marked, and students will be kept with their own bus groups.

CMS says it has tried to schedule its way around potential traffic problems. Shuttles will leave school sites about an hour before classes begin at those locations.

At West Mecklenburg High, for example, the shuttles will pull out by 6:10 a.m. West Meck classes begin at 7:15 a.m. "There will be two busy times at West Mecklenburg," Superintendent Peter Gorman said. "But we won't have everyone arriving at once."

In the afternoon, the shuttles should arrive well after the host schools dismiss - except for shuttles which stop at middle schools, which will arrive at least a half-hour before the final bell.

At least, that's the way it's supposed to work.

"We anticipate some changes might be needed, but we've studied this carefully," Gorman said.

One key question remains: Will parents arrive on time?

That's not a problem in the morning, CMS transportation director Carol Stamper said. But the school system says it won't allow parents to arrive chronically late in the afternoon.

"For the first few weeks, the bus drivers will wait for parents to arrive," Stamper said. "The buses won't pull away and leave the children alone."

But eventually, parents will be required to pick up their kids within 10 minutes after the bus arrives.

After three misses, Gorman said, students could lose their bus ride for the year.

Gorman and Stamper said there will be some flexibility for parents who encounter problems, such as traffic congestion.