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Board hears persistent bus-driver shortage; district demonstrates bus-tracking app
Summary
District transportation staff described ongoing driver shortages, special-needs routing pressures and a MyBus app that shows real-time bus locations; administrators acknowledged rollout timing issues for parent access.
Niagara Falls City School District transportation staff and administrators told the board on Sept. 11 that driver shortages and specialized routing remain the chief causes of morning and afternoon busing delays, and they demonstrated the district’s MyBus tracking app for parents.
Casey Dixon, a transportation coordinator, showed how parents sign up, add students and view GPS-based bus locations, scheduled pick-up and drop-off times, and receive messages about delays. Dixon demonstrated the app’s sign-up flow, explained that student numbers must match PowerSchool records exactly and said parents sometimes need help matching formatting. She said the app can send district messages to all users, individual buses or specific students.
Administrators said the district has roughly two auxiliary buses dedicated to students who need curb-to-curb service with a nurse on board, which reduces the pool of available drivers for general routes. The high school, the district said, should have about 30 buses but was operating with roughly 17 assigned and sometimes as few as 13–14 buses on a given day. Dixon said three new drivers were scheduled or testing to start in the coming days.
The board’s unnamed administrator said routing general-education high‑school students into the app had been a conscious spring decision to avoid daily pass requests; that decision can be reversed and the district will work with parents who request routing. “I own it,” the administrator said, referring to the choice not to route general‑education high‑school runs into the app initially.
Board members and parents raised security and data concerns about the app. The district said it obtained an Education Law 2‑d contract from the vendor and considers the vendor compliant with data protections for personally identifiable student information; Dixon said the app limits how many accounts may link to a given student and that transportation staff can remove unauthorized links.
Administrators acknowledged rollout communication issues: some parents expected bus schedules to arrive via the app but did not have time to sign up, creating confusion on opening days. Staff said they will provide more on-site and phone support, QR codes at schools and targeted outreach to help parents register.
The district said GPS refresh lag and occasional signal issues are normal in live-tracking apps and encouraged families to close and reopen the app if location data does not update. Transportation staff said the app will receive future updates to add form submission features and expand functionality for alternate pick-up forms and day-care notifications.
No formal board action was taken at the meeting; administrators said they will continue to recruit drivers and to expand app access for families who request routing.
