West Geauga transportation staff outline tablet rollout, route changes and driver recruitment

Mrs. Coniglio, presenting a transportation update to the West Geauga Local School District Board of Education, said the district will introduce tablets on buses to improve head counts, routing and parent notifications and will phase the devices in during the school year while continuing the Here Comes the Bus app at startup.

The move, Coniglio said, is intended to give families more reliable arrival information and allow staff to remove routes with sustained non-ridership after two weeks. "The tablets will help especially with head counts, knowing who's on the bus daily, where we could push and pull to get those routes even more efficient," Coniglio said.

Board members and staff framed the change as an operational step rather than a formal policy vote. The district reported current routing and ridership data during the presentation: 23 bus routes, eight van routes and service to 24 schools and program locations; about 1,338 students are routed in the morning and just under 1,600 in the afternoon, with an actual daily ridership the presenter put at about 1,202 students.

The presentation said tablets differ from the existing Here Comes the Bus system because tablets "follow the route and not the bus" and register a stop each time a vehicle door opens. Coniglio explained that tablets will log boarding and alighting events so parents can see whether and when a student boarded and when they got off. She said the tablets will allow parents at private schools and special‑education transports — named in the presentation as Saint Anselm, Notre Dame, Saint Helen and Saint Francis — to see stop activity that they cannot currently view with Here Comes the Bus.

Doctor Beers, a board member, asked for operational differences between the app and tablets: "What's the difference operationally between the Here Comes the Bus and the tablet?" Coniglio answered that Here Comes the Bus tracks a particular vehicle and requires manual updates if a different bus is substituted, while the tablet follows the route and can be moved between vehicles so the route stays visible in the system.

Staff told the board they plan a slow rollout so drivers can learn the new workflow; Coniglio said Here Comes the Bus will remain active at the start of the school year and the district will release about five tablets at a time "so bus drivers can get used to it." The tablet requires a simple driver action — tapping a screen to record boarding — whereas Coniglio said the app required no action by drivers.

Recruitment and driver collaboration were described as central to improving run times. A bus driver who spoke during the update said driving is part‑time with summer off and described daily routines, adding, "I've been driving a school bus for 14 years." Coniglio and other staff credited driver input for recent route changes and spring dry runs used to tighten schedules.

Staff outlined typical schedule constraints: the first high‑school bus leaves about 5:55 a.m.; elementary routes begin around 7:35 a.m.; afternoon high school dismissal is listed at 3:15 p.m. and afternoon elementary arrivals into the garage at about 4:41 p.m. The district acknowledged limited layover time in the afternoon — especially for longer Newberry routes — and said some buses will shuttle between schools to meet pickup windows.

Coniglio also outlined operational and community tools the department is using: an online "help form" and a phone log to track calls, additional customer‑service and hands‑on driver training, and integrating tablets to reduce connectivity and visibility problems where Here Comes the Bus lacks access for certain vehicles. She noted connectivity limits in rural "dead zones" and said the tablet approach reduces those gaps because tablets follow the route and provide turn‑by‑turn directions for drivers.

The transportation update included staffing and recruitment tactics: bus‑driving events, word‑of‑mouth outreach at local businesses, flyers and direct recruitment while emphasizing that drivers’ route knowledge helped shape time‑savings measures. Coniglio said routes were optimized last year and the district plans to keep ride times under an hour where possible.

Board members raised questions about operational deadhead time between runs and how the district will use extra capacity. Coniglio said more buses are being dedicated to specific private‑school runs (Saint Anselm was singled out), reducing some deadhead time from about 20–40 minutes to closer to 15–20 minutes in some cases.

The presentation concluded with staff thanking drivers and families for collaboration and saying the district plans to continue monitoring ridership, adjusting routes after startup and using tablets to improve timeliness and parental visibility.

The board did not take a formal vote on the tablet rollout during the meeting; staff presented the plan as an administrative implementation that will be phased in and communicated to families.