Parents calling Durham Public Schools’ transportation services department recently with questions about their child’s school bus may have trouble getting through. Why? Ten members of transportation’s administrative staff have left their posts to help drive the buses.
At a DPS work session Thursday, Anthony S. Lewis, the school district’s new superintendent, acknowledged transportation trouble in the first few weeks of the school year. Lewis cited increased ridership and a bus driver shortage as the source of the disarray.
“And let me be clear,” Lewis said. “These are not excuses. I do think it’s hugely important for everyone in this community to know the current reality. And, it’s hugely important for everyone in this community to know what we’re doing about some of these challenges.”
Since the board’s August work session, rider requests in the school system increased by almost 5,000 students, the superintendent said. Meanwhile, the district is short 30 bus drivers, Mathew Palmer, senior executive director of school planning and operational services, said in response to an inquiry from The 9th Street Journal.
Thirty-two candidates are “in the queue” for driver training and testing, a process which should take approximately two months, Lewis said at the meeting.
The system has also hired nine contractors to help with transportation communication, he added.
The driver shortage is causing headaches for DPS parents such as Jane Dornemann, whose son takes the bus to school each day.
“Consistently, and I mean almost every day, either the bus doesn’t stop for him, the bus doesn’t show up, or we get a message a bus is two hours late,” Dornemann said in an interview with The 9th Street Journal.
“The other issue is that my son is also consistently waiting for the bus downtown for up to two hours,” she added. “He most of the time gets home by six o’clock. His school lets out at 3:20.”
Alongside the driver shortage, parents — including Lewis himself — have struggled to use the bus tracking system, Edulog Parent Portal App.
“Some of our parents have not been able to consistently see the buses in the parent portal app,” Lewis said. “I’m one of those parents that have not been able to see that consistently.”
Dornemann, the DPS parent, expressed frustration with Edulog during public comment earlier in the evening.
Dornemann called on the board to “replace Edulog immediately. It is not reliable and multiple school districts across the country have dropped it for this reason, and even taken Edulog to court and won.”
