Busing changes promised for Jan. 3 by Columbus, Reynoldsburg schools
Columbus City Schools and Reynoldsburg City Schools are making major changes mid-school year in attempts to fix problems with their busing.
Columbus City Schools recently announced it will be changing their busing routes Jan. 3 that will result in new routes, drivers, pickup and drop-off times for all district students as well as charter and nonpublic students who rely on the district for transportation. Students and parents will be told of the changes before the end of November, district officials say.
Columbus City school officials have offered at least three explanations for problems the district has had with failed pickups, late arrivals at schools and late drop-offs after school. They include a shortage of bus drivers that is being experienced nationwide as well as problems with the $1.5-million software it used this year to design more efficient service routes.
After last Monday’s school board meeting, Board President Jennifer Adair blamed policies from prior boards, but added that she was confident bus service would improve after the winter break for the holidays.
Some parents remain skeptical.
“I don’t think it’s going to make a difference to be honest, unless they hire more people,” said Courtney Carsey, the parent of a preschooler and kindergarten student at Columbus City’s Leawood Elementary School on the East Side.
More:Columbus City Schools to change all bus routes, blames driver shortage, software ‘misstep’
Reynoldsburg changes
Reynoldsburg City Schools has been on a remote learning rotation since the middle of October, a situation the district has blamed on a shortage of school bus drivers.
“The district is obligated to transport eligible students and cannot force parents to drive their students to school,” the district said in a statement. “If we were to cancel busing but require students to be present for in-person learning at the school buildings, we would be creating an equity issue for those students who do not have an adult available to drive them to school.”
Reynoldsburg announced last week that the district will resume full-time, in-person learning for all students on Jan. 3 as the district adjusts the start and end times for seven schools for the rest of the school year, Interim Superintendent Dr. Jocelyn Cosgrave said in a letter to families.
“Despite these upcoming changes, we are continuing recruiting efforts to hire additional bus drivers so that we have plenty of drivers for when our new schedule begins,” Cosgrave said.
Students are to begin classes as early as 7:10 a.m. and dismiss as late at 4:15 p.m., according to the new schedule.
The affected schools are French Run and Taylor Road elementary schools, Hannah Ashton Middle School, Waggoner Road Junior High School, Reynoldsburg High School-Livingston, Reynoldsburg High School-Summit and the district’s morning and afternoon preschools.
More:Earlier mornings, later afternoons in store for some Reynoldsburg students
State law requires school districts to provide transportation for K-8 students who live more than two miles from school.
Ohio had 18,499 active bus drivers as of Wednesday, said Ohio Department of Education spokesperson Lacey Snoke.
‘It feels like our route isn’t a priority.’
Columbus City Schools has had 125 compliance monitoring complaints filed against the district this school year, as of Wednesday, Snoke said.
Carsey said the bus serving her children is supposed to pick them up at 8:27 a.m., but it doesn’t always come on time. Sometimes the bus comes early before her kids are at the stop, or it comes late. Sometimes it doesn’t show up at all.
More:Columbus City School Board ‘really confident’ about new bus routes
“They are never there at the same time,” the 28-year-old Southeast side resident said. “It feels like our route isn’t a priority.”
Almost every student who rides the school bus through Columbus City Schools — including charter and nonpublic school students — will likely receive a new bus driver, new times for pick-up and drop-off and possibly a new bus location.
Columbus City Schools, the state’s largest school district with about 47,000 students, is using two software routing systems. Versatrans software by Tyler Technologies is the primary routing software and AlphaRoute “will work in the background,” said Columbus City Schools spokesperson Jacqueline Bryant.
Columbus City Schools previously used Versatrans, but switched to AlphaRoute software this school year.
Columbus School Employees Association President Lois Carson said the district thought AlphaRoute would squeeze bus routes together, but instead it spread them out.
“(AlphaRoute) was just bad,” she said.
Steve Simmons implemented Versatrans in 2012 when he was the director of transportation for the district. He is now the immediate past president of the National Association for Pupil Transportation, a New York-based trade association for public and private student transportation service providers.
“It’s very unusual (for a school district to switch to a new routing software mid-school year),” Simmons said.
More:Are Columbus City Schools violating state law in handling of charter and nonpublic busing?
He said Columbus City Schools should have used both software systems from the start, instead of dropping Versatrans altogether.
“That was their mistake,” Simmons said. “You always run dual.”
Columbus City Schools had 638 routes and 517 active bus drivers for more than 38,000 students needing transportation as of Tuesday, so bus drivers are doubling and tripling up their routes, Bryant said.
On average, about 13%, or about 71, district drivers call off each day, Bryant said. She said there are 20 supervisors who help with the staffing shortage.
Drivers call off because of stress from the job and illness, including COVID-19, Carson said.
Columbus charter schools struggling to get busing routes
Columbus City Schools used to provide a morning bus for Shilliam Daniels’ daughters, a fourth-grader and an eighth-grader at Graham Elementary and Middle School (GEMS), a K-8 public charter school, but the bus stopped coming in October. Now, no bus comes to pick them up after school.
As a result, the 38-year-old Northland resident has been forced to go from full-time to part-time at the bank where she works so she can transport her daughters.
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“It’s been annoying, to say the least,” Daniels said. “There probably won’t be a decent Christmas at all because everything is going to rent and utilities.”
She is hoping for the best when it comes to the bus routing changes through Columbus City Schools, but is prepared for no change.
“Is it really a guarantee we will have transportation for our children?” Daniels asked.
Only one or two morning buses, if any, show up to GEMS in the morning. The school is supposed to have seven morning buses, said James Kutnow, assistant superintendent of the Graham Family of Schools. There are supposed to be five afternoon buses, he said, but none have shown up this school year.
Two hundred of the school’s 350 students are signed up for transportation, and about a dozen have been forced to leave because of the lack of busing.
“I’m optimistic that we will see some improvements,” Kutnow said. “I’m skeptical that we will solve all of our problems by January.”
Cheryl Elliott, principal of Summit Academy Community School Columbus and Summit Academy Middle School – Columbus, hopes the changes will get more of her students on buses.
“I guess time will tell,” she said. “I don’t think it will get any worse.”
Half of Summit Academy’s elementary and middle school’s 60 students need a school bus, but there is only one morning bus that brings 10 kids, she said.
Columbus City Schools suggested in its announcement about the reconstruction of its entire bus routing system beginning Jan. 3 that some charter and nonpublic schools should reconsider when they start school to match up with bus service.
Reynoldsburg switched to remote learning
Reynoldsburg City Schools started remote learning on Oct. 12 with a rotation of elementary schools that eventually included the middle, junior and senior high schools on Oct. 21.
The district has had eight bus routes unfilled every day, according to school officials.
More:Students, parents upset as about 100 Columbus City Schools bus drivers calling off daily
Reynoldsburg had 43 bus drivers for 51 routes, as of Nov. 10, according to the district. There have also been 10 drivers out for short-and-long-term absences, but the district hopes to hire six drivers in the coming weeks.
The district is also adding an additional tier to its four-tier busing schedule.
“The decision to go to remote learning was not something we took lightly,” said district spokesperson Stephanie Beougher. “Remote learning is not ideal, but it was the best option for a short-term solution to our staffing…
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