The school bell rang Thursday morning for students at Wilson Focus School in Omaha. The year-around school returned from summer break and it was an opportunity for the company that provides busing service for OPS to talk about their new plan to drop off and pickup kids on time.
13 buses began pulling up to the school around 7:20 this morning, giving students a chance just to grab breakfast before school started at 8:00.
David Prince is the vice president of operations for Student Transportation of America and says everything went smoothly and he's confident that will continue when every other school opens next month.
He says the goal is to have buses running on schedule to get kids to and from school on time.
Frustration mounted last year after many parents said bus drivers failed to pick up and drop off kids on time. Some buses didn't show up at all.
Prince says "we want consistency. We want to make sure that students see the same driver everyday."
After OPS modified student assignment plans, the district approved the consolidation of some routes. There are 330 bus routes for the start of the upcoming school year, compared to 476. last year.
Prince says they have an excess number of drivers which will allow them to assign the same one to the same route every day, which should ease the minds of parents and students. He says drivers will do a trial run of the route on August 9.
Substitute drivers will also ride the routes with the normal driver so they will know what to do on days they are needed.
Aug. 4th – drivers will be assigned their routes
Aug. 8th – drivers will review route
Aug. 9th – drivers will do a trial run of the route.
Parents who have questions about bus routes or any concerns can call Student Transportation of America at (531) 299-0140.