Rotational Coverage, Transportation Opt-Out Among Short-Term Durham School Bus Fixes

One short-term fix for transportation problems in Durham Public Schools may be a rotational coverage approach that ensures the district avoids leaving the most vulnerable students without a way to get to and from school.

During Thursday’s work session, DPS transportation officials discussed the prospect of choosing one day a week – Mondays, for example – when families of students who don’t have special needs at a certain school would handle their own transportation.

If DPS moves forward with that plan, officials would set up some kind of calendar system with enough advance warning that parents and guardians could plan accordingly.

That might be a welcome change for families who have complained repeatedly about the uncertainty and lack of reliability when it comes to school bus transportation in Durham, with children running late to school and losing learning time or being stuck on the bus for more than an hour after school without access to a bathroom. Or, even worse, not making it to school at all because the bus is cancelled due to the driver shortage when parents lack alternative transportation options and have to work.

“This has been a very difficult year, but we’re confident we can get this right,” said Joe Harris, the district’s transportation director, during the meeting.

Another option up for consideration: getting families to voluntarily opt out of bus transportation if they can provide their own rides to school. Currently, the district shows nearly 23,000 in ridership requests, representing about 73% of DPS students. However, actual ridership numbers now are closer to 12,600, perhaps at least in part due to families deciding before now to stop relying on the bus.

The goal would be to reduce demand on school transportation so that the district wouldn’t have as many routes to spread between the currently employed drivers trying to manage trips for students on three different bell schedules at the elementary, middle, and high school levels.

DPS is now up to 134 active school bus drivers – up from 131 – with at least 37 more drivers in the training pipeline.

Friday evening, the district emailed parents about reconsidering their requests for bus service:

“If you are a family who does not need a dedicated bus assignment at this time and can provide transportation for your child, it would be very helpful to us for you to contact your school’s data manager and opt out of bus transportation. This will allow us to provide more consistent and efficient service and move closer to resolution.”

The Board of Education authorized administrators and transportation staff to also explore additional tactics, including:

• Creating walk zones of up to one mile for 21 of the DPS elementary schools where safe walking conditions exist.
• Setting up “express” bus service for students attending magnet and application middle and high schools. The express service would rely on parents to deliver students to a central location that acts as a hub to deliver them to school.
• Finding ways to incentivize 60 current certified instructional staff who hold commercial driver’s licenses to help by taking on bus routes.

The board “will continue to hear transportation updates and consider recommendations from administration at every meeting until further notice,” according to the district’s news release. Community members may provide input about the recommendations via email to boe@dpsnc.net.

“Again, we want our families to know that we are working together with you to resolve our district’s transportation challenges,” the statement said. “Your grace, patience, and support are highly valued and greatly appreciated.”

Southpoint Access Editor and Publisher Wes Platt can be reached at southpointaccessnews@gmail.com or 407-616-1346.