District, contractor face criticism after clubs-bus misload, hourlong parent alarm

At a meeting of the Pottsgrove School District Board of School Directors, Jennifer Hovey, chief operating officer of contractor CMD, described a Feb. 13 evening in which multiple errors on activity/club bus routes led to children from different runs boarding the same bus, a police stop and an hourlong delay before a number of parents were notified.

Hovey told the board that the problem began when a Ringing Rocks driver picked up students and then, at Lower Pottsgrove Elementary, allowed additional children to board whom the driver later could not match to the roster. "The driver that was involved, really their biggest mistake was not, stopping the children from boarding at the time time that it happened," Hovey said. She described intermittent radio and power outages that night and said dispatchers had trouble accessing electronic manifests.

The district and CMD said they ultimately assembled four CDL drivers and two additional activity buses to sort and return students to parents after police met the bus in Landis, Sanatoga. Hovey said about a dozen students were involved when staff determined there were mismatches and began transferring children. She told the board the Lower Pottsgrove Police Department held the bus for roughly an hour until parents arrived, then allowed two children without immediate parental pickup to continue to their local stops when possible.

Board members sharply criticized the lag in notification. "The root cause of this problem is failure to timely communicate to parents," Board member Jay said during the meeting, calling the hour parents waited "wrong" and saying the district must make parents the first priority in emergency communications.

Superintendent Doctor Finney and other board members pressed CMD and district staff on steps to speed communication. Hovey said CMD has updated internal dispatcher procedures, given dispatch staff a company phone tied to district group-text chains and issued a memo reminding drivers of roster checks and reporting protocols. She also described plans to use an upgraded scheduling and communication platform the board has approved to give parents a tracking app for buses.

Board members and parents present urged further changes. One parent and board member questioned whether the district or contractor had followed procedures for substitute drivers and asked for a concrete timeline for fixes. Hovey said CMD would continue to refine training and that the company would work with the district to produce faster parent notifications even in cases of intermittent power or radio service.

The district asked CMD to return to the board with an update on new communications procedures and implementation steps at a future meeting.

Ending: The board framed its immediate priority as guaranteeing faster, direct notification to parents when transportation incidents occur; CMD said it has implemented dispatcher-phone and texting changes and will coordinate with the district on the planned bus-tracking application.