Howard County avoids repeat of bus crisis as students return to school

COLUMBIA -- Monday was the first test to see if Howard County leaders did enough to make sure history won't repeat itself with school bus blunders.

It appeared the Howard County Public School System passed, with the school district reporting the vast majority of buses made it to their destinations on time.

HCPSS didn't release specific data showing the timing of buses, but a spokesman said, "We were very pleased overall with student transportation operations."

Reliving school bus issues

Last school year was plagued with bus issues from the start as the district first contracted with California-based student transportation service Zum. Some students waited hours for buses, while others weren't even picked up at all.

Some students even got on the wrong bus.

Resolving the bus crisis

Standing in front of Wilde Lake High School on Monday, the first day of the new school year, Howard County Public School Superintendent Bill Barnes, Board of Education chair Jen Mallo and County Executive Calvin Ball praised the partnerships and work the school district and county did this summer to prevent another bus crisis.

"We're ensuring that we're working together, that the funds are going to our top priority areas," Ball said. "We are a team and we are going to create the best teaching and learning environment for all of our students of all ages and abilities."

The contractors were notified of the bus routes on August 19, which gave them 19 days to test drive the routes and make adjustments as needed.

Eleven elementary and middle schools had their start times adjusted ahead of the school year to make things easier for bus routes to run efficiently. Seventeen bus routes were also nixed.

New contracts were also made with contractors to ensure all athletics, school activities and field trips would be covered with transportation as well.

"[We made sure] that any of the bigger gaps that were there midway through the year are now filled, as well as making sure that expectations are the same for both our contractors, our bus drivers and our central staff," Mallo said.

Enough bus drivers

The Howard County school district made sure ahead of time that the contractors had enough school bus drivers to accommodate each route.

Earlier this month, Zum told WJZ in a statement that it had enough drivers in Howard County, although a specific number wasn't provided.

Barnes reiterated there were enough drivers from all of the school district's contractors.

"We had over 100 driver surplus last week, so folks are on standby just in case we need to add additional routes or just in case something happens," Barnes said.

Contingency plan, if needed

Superintendent Barnes said there are contingency plans in place in case the district has bus issues remotely similar to last year.

"There will always be driver callouts," Barnes said. "This is a big fleet of over 500 buses, so we stand ready with standby buses and a communication system to let parents know which bus is going to show up at the school bus stop every day."

The school district has minivans available to transport students, according to a letter Barnes sent to families.

The district's transportation team will be working with contractors to find areas of improvement and make those fixes within the first few weeks of the school year, according to a spokesman.

A couple late buses

A bus for Patuxent Valley Middle School in Savage ran 45 minutes late. For dismissal, some buses were more than 30 minutes late for Bryant Woods Elementary School and Thomas Viaduct Middle School.

Parent Christiana Mokosso, whose oldest daughter started high school, told WJZ that the summer was about preparing her child for school.

"[I told her] there's a lot of things you're gonna be facing as a freshman going to high school, there's a lot of challenges," Mokosso said. "So, I've been prepping her."

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