Transportation News 2025-26

Our Transportation Department will be implementing several changes to address challenges and enhance our transportation services for the 2025-26 school year. 

The goals are to

• streamline routes for efficiency and staffing;
• improve communications;
• enhance safety on our buses;
• provide more consistent pick-up and drop-off times with fewer disruptions for our families; and
• create a plan in case there is an extreme shortage of drivers and substitute drivers (and hope we never have to use it).

We know there are a lot of changes. Please be patient as we work to improve our services, especially in the first 2 weeks of school. Parents can also help by making sure they have their FinalForms up-to-date. Read on to learn more about how we are working toward those goals and what it means for our WCS families.

Letters are being mailed to each family receiving transportation. You can also jump into your FinalForms to see the bus route information for your child(ren).

Large Group Stops

Challenge
Stopping multiple times on the same street adds extra time to the route. It is also harder on the buses themselves which increases maintenance costs.

Solution
The District will be increasing the number of large group stops in some neighborhoods. 

Benefits
Fewer individual stops will cut time from the routes. It is also easier on the buses themselves, reducing our maintenance costs. To help kids and parents adjust to new bus stop locations, our drivers will be making a dry run on August 11th. Families are encouraged to go with their child to the designated stop and meet the driver.

Specified 2-Tier Routes

Challenge: Last minute changes and delays to pick-up and drop-off times are hard for parents to plan around. When staff illness/absence is high and bus routes are combined, it can cause multiple delays in both arrival and dismissal. 

Solution: The District will be instituting several "2-Tier" bus routes in town.

• Several specified routes will make 1 early run in the morning, then a 2nd run after finishing the first. The 2nd run in the morning will arrive before school begins.
• The process will be repeated at the end of the day for those same routes.
• Schools will be providing supervision in the buildings for students that arrive on the early run or that leave on the 2nd run at the end of the day.
• Families on this 2-Tier routing system will receive their route information with estimated pick-up and drop-off times before the school year starts.

Benefits
This will help the District avoid last minute changes to routes and provide more consistent pick-up and drop-off times for all our riders. It also frees up some drivers to substitute where they are needed to maintain consistent route schedules.

An additional benefit is that our Transportation office staff won't be called away from the phones to drive routes as frequently. That means more availability to take parent calls and address any issues that come up.

Communications

Challenge
With staffing shortages and route delays, comes a challenge with communicating with specific groups of parents in a timely manner. Additionally, if our transportation office staff has to leave their posts to fill in as drivers (they are all certified), it becomes difficult for parents to reach someone in Transportation when they have a question or concern.

Solution
The District has a 3-part solution to this challenge.

• Early deadline for completion of FinalForms (July 11th) to collect accurate address and contact information, as well as transportation plans for the school year.
• New communication system: The District is switching to SchoolStatus Connect. Parent/Guardian and student information is synced every night for up-to-date information (as long as the family keeps their information updated in FinalForms!). 
• 2-Tier routes will mean that our Transportation office staff won't be called away from the phones to drive routes as frequently. 

Benefits
The earlier deadline for FinalForms will streamline our process of creating routes and communicating them to families in early August.

SchoolStatus Connect, once it is fully implemented, will allow us to communicate with parents that are directly impacted by specific route changes. This will reduce the number of calls to parents who are not impacted by route information.

Routing Software

Challenge
Assigning students to routes that are efficient and timely can be challenging. First some quick facts:

• Our district covers 161 square miles - more than 93% of the school districts in Ohio! 
• We are required by Ohio law to transport students to area private schools within a 30 minute straight drive, even if they do not attend our schools.
• Buses and drivers are utilized for athletics and field trips, in addition to regular school routes.
• Routes must constantly be adjusted as students withdraw, enroll, or move during the school year.

Solution
There are many options when it comes to routing and fleet management software. The District is currently researching and comparing options and will be piloting a new program later in the school year. Stay tuned for updates once they have a software platform in place.

Benefits
Well designed routes can create consistency for parents and students. They also help us maintain our fleet and better control our fuel costs. Many of the software programs have additional features that we'll be able to share once we know more.

Upgrading Camera Systems

Challenge
The newer buses in our fleet have enhanced 6-camera surveillance equipment (video cameras), but our older buses have outdated equipment that have 3 cameras and rely on SD cards. 

Solution
The District is in the process of purchasing camera systems to bring older buses up-to-date. These new systems will rely on solid-state drives instead of SD cards. They will also have 3 additional cameras like our newer buses. 

Benefits
This will provide more consistency and reliability with surveillance across our fleet. It will also help maintain safe and secure bus services for both student and driver.

Bus Driver Professional Development

Challenge
We all want our students to have a safe trip to and from school. That means kids need to follow the rules set out in the student handbook. When kids misbehave it is not fair to the other students. It can also create a safety concern.

Solution
In addition to reminding kids about proper bus behavior, our drivers will participate in professional development (PD) before the school year begins. The PD is designed to help drivers align their responses to student behavior with Ohio's Positive Behavior and Intervention and Supports (PBIS) program currently used in our classrooms. 

Benefits
This will provide more consistency in our response to student behavior issues on the school bus, making a safer and more enjoyable trip for everyone. It also helps set expectations for good behavior and a consistent response to misbehavior while on the school bus.

Rolling Blackouts (Plan for extreme driver shortages)

Challenge
While we have been able to hire some drivers over the last year, it is still very tight. Especially with the competition for subs and drivers between all the other schools who face the same challenge.

We will be able to ease that some with our 2-tier routes and large group bus stops. However, we feel it's important to have a plan in place in the event of an extreme driver shortage (ie. high numbers of illness among regular and sub drivers). We know last minute route changes or cancellations create a big challenge for parents.

Solution
The plan is to communicate a Rolling Blackout Plan early in the school year. Parents will know that during their assigned date range, they should have back-up plans for getting their child to and from school in case we have to call a blackout for their route. A blackout means that we will not be able to provide transportation for their child's route that day.

Benefit
By having a rolling plan, we ensure routes are not impacted multiple times and only if we are in an extreme staffing situation. By providing a schedule of potential impact, parents have plenty of time to get back-up plans in place in the event that a blackout is called during their date range.

NOTE: We hope to never be in a situation where we have to initiate a Black Out and will work hard to avoid those situations.