SLPS: Zoom contract in place, district to send bus routes to families May 15

St. Louis Public Schools officials told the board they executed a transportation services contract with Zoom in March and are moving to publish bus routes and hire drivers before the fall semester.

Chief Operations presented a transition timeline that staff said began after a fully executed Zoom contract on March 21. The district ran cabinet “dry runs” to test proposed routes and insisted the goal is to send out a final route roster to families on May 15, staff said.

Operations staff reported current staffing and recruiting figures: 76 certified drivers in the system and 94 applicants in the pool. The district’s hiring target for drivers is 243, officials said, and they plan hiring events in mid-April. New buses with air conditioning were expected to start arriving as early as May.

“From that day, that's when the real work began,” Chief Operations said of the Zoom contract, and he described multiple weekly meetings with the vendor and internal teams to test routes and staffing. He told the board that routing progress will be shared with schools and families ahead of the next school year and that routes will be added to if new students enroll rather than rebuilding routes from scratch.

District staff said they will continue to update families as routing and staffing are finalized and will coordinate closely with communications and technology staff to publish routes and transportation guidance.

Administrators said the district is prioritizing safety in route testing and that weekly updates on vehicle deliveries and route changes will be provided to the board until service stabilizes.