Nearly two weeks after school began, officials at Unit 5 are still trying to sort out massive transportation problems that came following nearly a year of planning for different bus routes brought on by schedule changes and budget cuts.
The problem was so pervasive, more than 300 people packed a meeting room at Normal West High School last Wednesday night to complain.
Many children have been stuck on buses for hours and others dropped off at the wrong stops.
Unit Five Superintendant Mark Daniel said it had been very much a partnership with contractor First Student in reconfiguring the transportation system to reduce the number of buses by a third. But, he said First Student failed the execution of the new plan.
"When we have time for execution, you want that to be well run. I think we lacked that. That is one thing requested. Another thing we requested, simply, you need more staff to help with the routes," said Daniel.
There are numerous categories of students all with different needs for transportation times: nearly 500 ordinary school children, early childhood ages three to five all going to two buildings, and special needs children.
Daniel said the District also underestimated the use of school transportation, based on parent surveys last Spring. He said new start times stimulated use of service by an extra 500 to 800 students.
Daniel said the district is still catching up, though he believed the routes are stronger now than they were last week.
Part of the frustration of parents has been the difficulty of getting ahold of someone at the district to help track down their child, who might have entered the wrong bus, or who might be on a long route. Daniel acknowledged that was a failure of the district.
"We have actually set up an after school call center through our own offices and we have asked First Student to please expand that role. So they have hired additional people as well. Because I think that was a communication issue," said Daniel.
He said parents should get that immediate response.
Unit Five has said First Student gave them assurances things would be ready for the start of school. First student workers have said publicly that the district changed too many things too fast. GLT asked Daniel how the mutual finger pointing helps resolve the issue and restore public trust.
"Well that's why I think it is a partnership. You hire a contractor. You work with a contractor for eleven months on a project like this. And you do expect the experts to deliver. Irregardless (sic) of the system, First Student is a corporation that is nationwide and prides itself on being one of the largest providers of transportation in the entire country. So, certainly we are not unique in having a two tier system, versus a three tier system, versus even a single tier system. We are a complex system, no doubt about it. But, we are certainly not unique in that fashion and therefore, you'd expect the experts to come through," said Daniel.
"And quite frankly, when you pay five and a half to six million dollars for a contract, you expect that," said Daniel.
Daniel said First Student will have to win back trust and it will take a while for that to happen just as it will take some time for parents to again trust Unit Five.
On Monday, twenty three route revisions went into effect, about one sixth of the routes.
Daniel said Unit Five is also examining whether to add staff to monitor First Student internally to make sure they perform in the future and how to know routes are sufficient to the needs of programming and are efficient as well.
Daniel said talks with Connect Transit showed there is not currently a possible relationship to get some middle school and high school students to class on public buses. He says the routes and times do not work.
GLT's Charlie Schlenker talks with Superintendent Mark Daniel to see what caused the snafu, and what progress is being made to bring student transportation back to normal.
