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District hears transportation vendor’s staffing, safety and live-map plans
Summary
The board received a detailed presentation from the district’s transportation provider on driver staffing (78 drivers for 78 routes), safety technology (Lytx in-bus AI cameras) and new parent-facing tools (live map and BeaconConnect updates). Board members pressed on absenteeism and asked for implementation steps.
Acadia Parish School Board on Nov. 18 heard a comprehensive report from its transportation contractor outlining driver staffing, safety performance and plans to roll out parent-facing technology.
Christina, the vendor representative, told the board the district currently has 78 drivers for 78 routes and a pool of substitutes, but several long-term leaves have strained the backup pool. "We currently stand at 78 drivers for the 78 routes," Christina said, adding the vendor has 13 full-time substitutes and additional part-time subs.
Board members asked whether absences were concentrated on particular routes. Christina said absences were "hit or miss" and that the vendor is tracking trends and following established protocols where persistent absenteeism is identified. A board member said inconsistencies affect families’ ability to rely on bus service; Christina said staff will continue to monitor and apply a mix of recruitment bonuses and disciplinary measures.
The vendor reported nine accidents this year, five deemed nonpreventable and four preventable, and described the Lytx camera system used for real-time coaching. "This is an AI-driven safety tool that monitors the drivers while they're driving, gives them coaching in real time, and then scores that coaching back to us," Christina said. She said Lytx can detect behaviors such as rolling through stops, phone use and missing seat belts and produces video requests (about 181 requests to date) for review and corrective action.
Staff also described technology upgrades intended to improve communication. The district’s buses are equipped with tablets, four cameras and push-to-talk functionality. The vendor said it has signed a contract for an AI telephone system (Dialpad) to help staff identify callers and provide prompts to callers and staff. Christina said a live map and parent app features are ready to be activated and would let administrators and parents track bus locations and receive zone-based alerts when buses approach or leave a set area.
Board members requested the live-map capability be prioritized for early-dismissal situations and asked that vendor and district IT coordinate SIS integration before the full rollout. Christina said she and a colleague (Zach) will lead on the vendor side and that the vendor needs the district to nominate technical leads to proceed.
The presentation closed with a fleet status update: the vendor described bus types in service and said most spares are on the lot and ready for use, noting one bus was recently totaled and affected the fleet count. Next steps include scheduling IT coordination for SIS integration, setting timelines for live-map activation and continued monitoring of absenteeism and safety metrics.
