ABC Transit tells North Hills board it has new drivers, says it can stop early middle-school dismissals

ABC Transit representatives told the North Hills School District Board of Education on June 12 that the contractor has recruited drivers and support staff and is offering a parent-facing GPS linkage option, and said those steps should prevent early dismissals at the district middle school next year.

The update to the board came during a presentation by ABC Transit representatives Erin Silverman and Kristen Anthony. They said the company has committed to move five commercial driver's-license drivers, five van drivers and one aide to the North Hills terminal and that the company is actively recruiting additional staff over the summer. ABC Transit also introduced a new office hire, Rihanna Cefeld, who is scheduled to start in July.

Board members and district staff pressed the vendor about past instances when some buses dismissed middle-school students early because of driver availability. ABC Transit said it has been working with district staff — including individuals identified in the meeting as Dr. Mannarino, Dr. Williams and Mr. Muth — to rework routes and hopes to eliminate early releases by rearranging route assignments and adding drivers. The company described the staffing goal for a successful start to the 2025–26 school year as six additional CDL drivers, six additional van drivers and one aide; it said at the time of the presentation it had five CDL drivers, five van drivers and one aide committed to transfer.

Company representatives described recruiting steps they said they have taken since the last board presentation: radio advertising, social-media campaigns, an in-person community hiring event that generated more than 60 contacts, internal transfers after another district's bid process, and incentives tied to upgrades at the local terminal. They also said they have run a GPS system from Samsera for about two years and now can offer, if the district wishes, a parent app that would allow route tracking. ABC Transit said some routing platforms include parent-app functionality and that the vendor would cover the software charge for year one if the district wanted to trial the service. The district-specific routing software vendor mentioned in the presentation was VersaTran; ABC Transit said cost and parameters would depend on VersaTran's package.

District board members asked additional operational questions. ABC Transit said some buses will continue to carry both elementary and middle-school students on the same routes because of bell-time alignment for High Cliff and Westview elementaries and the middle school; the company emphasized that mixing of students on those runs was an efficiency built into the routing rather than solely a driver-shortage accommodation and that separating those runs would require additional buses and add significant cost.

The presentation included internal staffing context from ABC Transit: drivers and van operators are frequently transient hires who use the position as a step toward CDL training or other driving careers, the company said, and that has contributed to turnover. The company said the 11 employees it is requesting to transfer into North Hills were long-term ABC Transit staff selected to provide more stability at the local terminal.

The board did not take any formal action on the presentation. Several board members and attendees asked for continuing updates; one board member noted the vendor had been asked previously to provide an update in January and returned in June instead. The district's request for an explicit written route plan or performance metrics was not recorded as formal direction in the transcript.

The remainder of the meeting proceeded to consent and personnel items, announcements and a legislative report.