Prismatic Services presented findings to the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board on 2025-05-01 after a three‑month study of district transportation operations and the district’s Bus Planner routing software.

Dr. Tasha Prieto, president of Prismatic Services, said the district operates 379 buses covering about 801 morning and afternoon routes and serving 93 schools. She reported an observed average ridership of about 45 students on general education runs and 10 on special education runs and average route lengths of about 40 minutes for general education and 42 minutes for special education. Observers also noted many buses running at less than half capacity at times, though buses were “generally on time.”

Prismatic found that Bus Planner is implemented and in daily use and that automated processes assign newly enrolled students to stops with minimal human intervention. The firm said afternoon runs and some non-transportation zones remain not fully entered in Bus Planner and recommended cleanup of data and better integration between Bus Planner and the district student information system (jCampus).

On school start times, Prismatic summarized research that later secondary start times align with adolescent development and can improve academics, athletics, mental health, discipline and sleep. Prieto said the transportation department and its software and staff have the capacity to support changes in start times if the district decides to pursue them, but recommended policy and procedural improvements and additional operational work to simplify any transition.

District staff said the full Prismatic report is posted in the board backup materials and that the firm logged about 255 consulting hours, 9 onsite days and 10 direct observations of transfer operations during the study. Board members expressed support for continued work with the consultants and for improving transportation operations whether or not the district pursues start‑time changes.

The presentation was informational; the board did not take formal action at the meeting.