Clay County transportation staff outline app problems, staffing pipeline and routing fixes after first weeks of school

District transportation leaders told the Clay County School Board that a combination of rapid ridership growth, a mass of last-minute registrations and rollout of new hardware and software produced service disruptions in the first days of the school year.

Transportation supervisors said the district is now carrying roughly 15,500 students on buses, an increase from about 15,000 last year, and that the department moved to a 1.5–2 mile eligibility standard to limit extreme route growth. Staff described the decision as proactive to avoid “double‑backs” and excessive rider times if routes were allowed to expand unchecked.

The department said a new parent-facing app and a linked routing platform (Bus Planner) crashed after roughly 6,000–7,000 parents registered over a single weekend, which amplified day-one problems. Staff reported additional technical failures on some buses — faulty GPS wiring and a tablet that failed after exposure to heat while parked — and said crews replaced equipment and worked with the vendor on fixes.

Staff emphasized that the app is now directly connected to the routing system (removing a prior three‑software handoff) and that nightly data transfers are functioning more reliably, reducing failed data synchronizations that previously required manual fixes.

On staffing, transportation supervisors reported 14 open driver allocations and multiple drivers in various stages of hiring: eight drivers expected to be cleared into contracts by the end of August, three in training, three in HR processing and others in screening. For monitors, staff reported 12 open allocations with several candidates moving through processing. Staff said all regular education routes are filled and that the outstanding vacancies skew toward dedicated ESE (special education) routes and one McKinney‑Vento non‑CDL route.

Transportation leaders credited their routing team and operations staff with quickly routing thousands of late registrations and covering routes when drivers called out. They said office staff, area managers and routing coordinators worked long shifts to reassign routes and push updates to parents.

The board and staff discussed walkable vs. drivable distance calculations for eligibility. Board members raised concerns about addresses where walking routes require crossing private property or lack sidewalks; staff said transportation will review individual addresses and encouraged families to submit the district’s ridership/ courtesy‑rider forms while staff perform case‑by‑case reassessments. Staff also said they are coordinating with county public works and the sheriff’s office on safe‑walking infrastructure where applicable.

Board members thanked drivers, dispatchers and routing staff for the rapid response and asked the public to report errors through formal forms so routing changes are documented. Staff said they are preparing earlier communications and registration pushes next year to reduce last‑minute surges.