After years of widespread bus driver shortages — and the delays and routing headaches that caused for schools and families — most districts in the Twin Cities say this year has been less of a scramble.
“I think it’s been the strongest start in recent memory, certainly since before COVID,” said Celi Haga, spokeswoman for Eastern Carver County Schools. Usually, Haga fields a few phone calls on the first day of school about missing buses or excessive delays. “This year, it was crickets.”
District leaders across the suburbs credit ongoing recruiting efforts for helping to fill driver rosters. And, for many schools, new technology enables easier route updates, fewer delays and streamlined communication with parents about bus arrival times. However, implementing such technology can come with some hiccups.
Stillwater schools alerted parents after school started for some students on Aug. 26 to “significant disruptions, including inaccurate bus routes, missing addresses, and students being left off routes entirely” because of “data inaccuracies and compatibility issues” with the district’s transition to a new bus routing and GPS system.
“We understand the frustration and inconvenience these challenges have caused for your families, and we are fully committed to resolving them,” read the message to parents. The district’s spokeswoman, Carissa Keister, said the situation has improved in the second week of school.
Many parents in Hopkins Public Schools are also frustrated by changes the district made to its busing system this year. The district moved to an “opt-in” model where families had to request transportation if they needed it. That shift, said district spokeswoman Jolene Goldade, allowed all the secondary buildings to have the same bell schedule — something she said was a strong preference for families.
The district has always had a policy to provide transportation to open-enrolled students upon request if space is available on a bus. The opt-in change, along with a flood of more than 680 requests from open-enrolled families, meant that some students living outside the district didn’t receive their requested bus assignment until a few days before school started. Others, even some who requested a stop before the Aug. 1 deadline, were still waiting on Friday to hear if they’ll have a spot on a bus at all.
Parent Jamie Nelson is still waiting for a bus assignment for her two children, as are some other open-enrolled families in her Golden Valley neighborhood. Together, the neighbors are carpooling and “dividing and conquering” the challenge of getting 10 kids to their Hopkins schools, Nelson said.
