Post by slt on Oct 2, 2009 6:41:48 GMT -5
www.suburbanchicagonews.com/beaconnews/lifestyles/1801581,2_5_AU02_TATAR_S1-091002.article
After bus chaos, Indian Prairie won't try for assigned seating
October 2, 2009
Indian Prairie School District families faced big changes related to bus scheduling when school started this year. People complaining about bus issues were not overreacting to the usual glitches that come with the start of a new school year. The problems this year were on a whole different scale than we've ever seen before.
Hundreds, maybe thousands, of families faced very serious bus issues. There were entire neighborhoods that either had no bus service at all or had buses so overcrowded that the drivers wound up not able to finish their routes once they had all seats full and some students standing in the aisles. Some students called for rides after school because once their assigned bus was full and no more students were allowed to board, they needed to find an alternate way to get home. Some had very long waits for very late buses as drivers did the best they could with the routes they'd been assigned. Thankfully, most of these issues have been resolved at this point.
Half-day kindergarten students had a whole different array of bus problems -- no bus scheduled to transport them at all. Then, a bus with an impossible schedule was assigned; then no bus showed up to drive them home from school for more than an hour after their first day ended. Another day, they were sent home on the wrong bus.
Other bus issues included stops that were so consolidated that now some bus stops had 30, 40, or even 50 kids waiting for the bus in a single location. Even as more buses and forgotten routes were added, there were reports of neighborhoods left behind and buses not able to fit all on their assigned route. The district office was inundated with more complaints than they could handle and worked to resolve the worst issues as quickly as possible.
This year the district added a new high school and converted a freshman campus into a middle school. The administration also decided to purchase a bus routing system and move the bus routing in-house. The new system allowed each family to see information online about their own bus stop and pickup and drop-off times, but did not give the complete route, as had been available previously.
Parents wondered why the district would take bus routing in-house on this particular year when there were already so many other changes. It turns out that no cost savings is realized with this change. The reason for taking routing in-house is that the district will be getting bids on a new bus contract to begin next school year. The bus company with which the district contracts will use routes provided by the district. The district's administration believes it can better manage the technology piece of the bus routing and that this will benefit the residents, though we have yet to see evidence of that.
I recently wrote about the district's decision to assign bus seats for students in kindergarten through eighth grade and my hopes that this decision would be revisited. I am happy to say that in light of all the other bus issues and changes, the district decided not to go forward with assigned seating for this school year. This can now still be used as a disciplinary measure when necessary.
I have the greatest respect and appreciation for our bus drivers and realize they have a difficult job, made even more so this year with the new routes. We can all hope that things will be better from here on out due to moving the scheduling in-house. Anyone still having bus issues should contact the district's director of support services.
Sherry Tatar can be reached at SherryTatar@ameritech.net. Also visit statar.blogspot.com.
After bus chaos, Indian Prairie won't try for assigned seating
October 2, 2009
Indian Prairie School District families faced big changes related to bus scheduling when school started this year. People complaining about bus issues were not overreacting to the usual glitches that come with the start of a new school year. The problems this year were on a whole different scale than we've ever seen before.
Hundreds, maybe thousands, of families faced very serious bus issues. There were entire neighborhoods that either had no bus service at all or had buses so overcrowded that the drivers wound up not able to finish their routes once they had all seats full and some students standing in the aisles. Some students called for rides after school because once their assigned bus was full and no more students were allowed to board, they needed to find an alternate way to get home. Some had very long waits for very late buses as drivers did the best they could with the routes they'd been assigned. Thankfully, most of these issues have been resolved at this point.
Half-day kindergarten students had a whole different array of bus problems -- no bus scheduled to transport them at all. Then, a bus with an impossible schedule was assigned; then no bus showed up to drive them home from school for more than an hour after their first day ended. Another day, they were sent home on the wrong bus.
Other bus issues included stops that were so consolidated that now some bus stops had 30, 40, or even 50 kids waiting for the bus in a single location. Even as more buses and forgotten routes were added, there were reports of neighborhoods left behind and buses not able to fit all on their assigned route. The district office was inundated with more complaints than they could handle and worked to resolve the worst issues as quickly as possible.
This year the district added a new high school and converted a freshman campus into a middle school. The administration also decided to purchase a bus routing system and move the bus routing in-house. The new system allowed each family to see information online about their own bus stop and pickup and drop-off times, but did not give the complete route, as had been available previously.
Parents wondered why the district would take bus routing in-house on this particular year when there were already so many other changes. It turns out that no cost savings is realized with this change. The reason for taking routing in-house is that the district will be getting bids on a new bus contract to begin next school year. The bus company with which the district contracts will use routes provided by the district. The district's administration believes it can better manage the technology piece of the bus routing and that this will benefit the residents, though we have yet to see evidence of that.
I recently wrote about the district's decision to assign bus seats for students in kindergarten through eighth grade and my hopes that this decision would be revisited. I am happy to say that in light of all the other bus issues and changes, the district decided not to go forward with assigned seating for this school year. This can now still be used as a disciplinary measure when necessary.
I have the greatest respect and appreciation for our bus drivers and realize they have a difficult job, made even more so this year with the new routes. We can all hope that things will be better from here on out due to moving the scheduling in-house. Anyone still having bus issues should contact the district's director of support services.
Sherry Tatar can be reached at SherryTatar@ameritech.net. Also visit statar.blogspot.com.