Haverhill's New School Bus Company Has Rough Start To New Year
HAVERHILL (CBS) - Haverhill students may be the ones who headed back to class this week, but the school district's new bus company is the one learning the lesson, after a chaotic start to the school year.
After the first day of school Tuesday, parents complained about late buses, changed routes, and poor communication about late changes from the school district.
Even Haverhill Mayor Jim Fiorentini was upset.
"I am extremely unhappy with the way that the first day was handled," he wrote in a Facebook post.
"We were up until 1:30 last night trying to get these routes fixed," John J. McCarthy, the owner of North Reading Transportation Bus, Inc. (NRT), told WBZ-TV Wednesday. "We know that the buses were running late for the elementary [schools], so we moved back the middle schools to pick them up about 20 minutes earlier."
Haverhill NRT Bus, Inc. operates a fleet of more than 30 buses, that transport some 4,500 students daily. The company says any new bus routes are in accordance with state law, and the district's student handbook.
"The city of Haverhill Public Schools has redistricted," explained NRT Bus, Inc. Regional Manager Chrisitne Valcourt. "There have been some transportation changes. Walk zones have been implemented."
Those walk zones dictate that some children who live a certain distance from their schools are not eligible to take the bus.
Children in kindergarten through fifth grade, who live within a mile of the school are not eligible. For middle schoolers, it's a mile-and a-half. For high school students, it's two miles.
The walking requirements are not new. NRT was just implementing them, something the previous bus company hadn't done, so this year's buses won't be overcrowded.
"Some of the walk zones that are unsafe. We've been out looking, Google mapping making sure if there is an unsafe route, then we'll pick them up," said McCarthy.
Things were reportedly running better for the second day of classes Wednesday.
The Haverhill School Committee will meet on Thursday. Representatives from NRT and Mayor Fiorentini plan to be there to ensure things continue to run smoothly for the rest of the year.