Less than two weeks after approximately 10,000 students were left waiting for school bus assignments at the start of the school year, Prince George’s County Public Schools leaders are apologizing to families and explaining what they’re doing to fix the problems.
Superintendent Shawn Joseph started Wednesday night’s telephone town hall by acknowledging that the buck stops with him.
“For every child who was left waiting, for every parent whose morning, afternoon work schedule, or sense of security was disrupted, I apologize,” Joseph said. “I take responsibility.”
Joseph told families the routing office had fallen behind before the start of school and senior leaders did not realize how serious the problem had become until the first day.
The problems have gone beyond routes.
Heather Morgan, who has two children in Prince George’s County Public Schools, said she has also had trouble with Chipmunk, the app parents use to track their child’s bus.
“Her bus information states that the bus is coming and it never shows up,” Morgan said.
Chief Operating Officer Charoscar Coleman said the district is reviewing its entire transportation operation, including routing, staff training and the Chipmunk app, with support from the app’s vendor.
The district said the original backlog has been cleared, but its 27-member transportation surge team remains in place while staff continue reviewing routes for errors, unusually long ride times and stop locations.
The department also has new leadership. Transportation Director Keba Baldwin stepped down Sunday, with the district saying he is pursuing another professional opportunity. Former PGCPS Chief Operating Officer Mark Fossett is serving as acting transportation director and leading a transition team focused on stabilizing service, customer service and critical vacancies.
Some families are still dealing with problems.
Debbie said her son, who attends Kettering Middle School, had no bus during the first week, and there were still issues when one finally arrived the second week.
“But it wasn’t a special need bus, and it was two streets from where we live, when his bus should be door to door,” Debbie said.
Coleman told parents with unresolved transportation issues to email bushelp@pgcps.org or follow up with their child’s school case manager.
Joseph said families should not simply be expected to wait for things to improve.
“We will not ask families to simply be patient while we wait for the system to get better,” Joseph said. “We have to make it better.”
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