School officials report good progress with bus issues

After a challenging and at times frustrating start to the school year with new bus contractor First Student, Canton school leaders were happy to report significant improvements in the delivery times of school buses over the past several days.

The positive news follows a productive workshop between First Student representatives and school officials and what amounted to a public airing of grievances over the inconsistency of bus service during the September 22 School Committee meeting.

Jessica Quint, area general manager for First Student, attended last week’s committee meeting and made it clear in her remarks that the company can and needs to do better. Both sides also pledged to support one another and work together to solve all remaining problems.

Below is the full text of the letter that Quint read aloud at the October 6 School Committee meeting:

“We recognize the start to this school year has been challenging and we want you to know that this is not representative of the level of service Canton Public Schools or your families should expect from First Student, nor is it reflective of the service levels we want to provide.

“Our full focus remains on transporting your students in a safe and timely manner. To help ensure every bus route arrives on time so students can focus on their education, we have been closely analyzing bus routes daily and making necessary adjustments to enhance our performance.

“We understand what an inconvenience a delayed route is for families and school administrators. Our team continues to work diligently to minimize the impacts. Over the past week, we have made incredible strides as all buses transporting CPS students arrived at school prior to bell times. We will continue to monitor the efficiency of our routes and make adjustments as needed, especially as we prepare for winter weather.

“If you have any transportation issues, please reach out to us at 781-961-3824 so we can promptly address your concerns. For any non-urgent matters, you can also reach out to Firstfeedback.com. Thank you very much for your patience and understanding during this time. We look forward to continuing to work with the district to provide the level of service your family deserves.”

Quint added that First Student has hired more staff to answer phone calls and return emails. In terms of next steps, Quint said the company plans to aggressively address on-time performance through daily analysis and remediation; communicate any changes to the district and drivers and specifically pay attention to high traffic days (Tuesdays and Wednesdays); and launch the First View app for parents once all routes are set. If all goes well, he said the app could be live within the next few weeks.

School Committee Vice Chair Kendall O’Halloran, who chaired the meeting in the absence of Kristian Merenda, said committee members are pleased with the progress made on the morning runs but are now looking to see similar improvements with the afternoon runs. Quint acknowledged that some bus routes are lasting over an hour and some students are waiting on the bus for approximately 20 minutes before they depart the school.

Stephen Marshall, CPS director of finance and operations, said that going forward, impacted families will be notified via email about any further route changes. Marshall said once the mobile app is up and running, notifications will be delivered much quicker via alerts through the app.

In other news from the October 6 meeting …

See this week’s Citizen to continue reading and for more highlights from the October 6 School Committee meeting. Click here to order your subscription today!

Short URL: https://www.thecantoncitizen.com/?p=93113

Posted by Mike Berger on Oct 14 2022. Filed under News, Schools. Both comments and pings are currently closed.