Parents report bus safety, timing problems; district and contractor outline fixes

Parents at the Jefferson City School board meeting on March 13 described safety and reliability problems on school buses, and district transportation staff presented performance data and steps they say are underway to address the issues.

During the public comment period, parent Billie Simpson, of 11551 U.S. Highway 63 South, told the board her child had been physically struck on a district bus and that the family had difficulty getting a response from the bus company. "I actually had to reach out to many people to get something resolved where another student had to hit my daughter on the bus," Simpson said, adding that bus monitors and drivers appeared to be aware of the incident but did not resolve it to her satisfaction.

Heather Kiesel, who said she lives across the highway from Simpson, told the board she had experienced similar issues on the same route and that the problems affected multiple families.

The district's transportation presenter, Mr. Underwood, acknowledged the transition to a new contractor and outlined steps Student Transportation of America (STA) has taken since beginning service in August. "Student Transportation of America started for us in August. This is their first year," Underwood said. He described a series of corrective measures and daily coordination between district staff and STA, including weekly meetings to improve routing and operations.

Underwood provided operational figures: STA is running 62 new buses (13 of them special-education units); 53 drivers, 26 monitors and eight drivers in training; 36 double-tiered routes, 11 double-tiered special-education routes, and 11 early-childhood routes. He said the contractor transports more than 4,000 students twice daily and reported a 99.89% on-time performance percentage for March to date. He also said STA has fulfilled 264 video requests and submitted 313 bus referrals to principals.

Underwood described efforts to increase parent engagement with the SafeStop tracking app, which shows bus location and estimated arrival. He said parent participation had grown from about 6% at the start of the year to 28% and that the district and STA aimed for roughly 40% participation. He also said STA is pursuing driver recruitment; Underwood noted a starting pay of $23 per hour for drivers with no experience and that sign-on and referral bonuses are available.

Board members thanked the parents for speaking and said staff would follow up. The public comments and the transportation presentation were consecutive on the agenda; the district's staff committed to additional follow-up with the parents and the contractor.

Ending: The district did not announce an immediate policy change or disciplinary outcome at the meeting. Board members directed staff to continue coordination with STA, increase communication with families about the tracking app and routing, and follow up directly with the parents who spoke.