Dr. Juliet Agocha: PGCPS Transportation Failure Is a Leadership Issue

For many Prince George's County families, the beginning of the school year brought frustration, uncertainty and, in some cases, fear.

Parents reported buses that did not show up, significant delays, incorrect or missing routes, and children arriving home much later than expected. Approximately 10,000 students were initially affected by transportation routing challenges.

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PGCPS has since announced that the original routing backlog has been cleared. I appreciate the bus drivers, transportation staff, school employees and others who worked long hours to address the immediate problems.

But clearing a backlog is not the same as solving the larger problem.

For parents whose buses still did not arrive or whose children came home extremely late, the problem was very real.

At its core, this was not simply a technology problem.

It was a leadership and operational-readiness failure.

Leadership Begins Before a Crisis

After more than two months of summer break, Prince George's County families had a reasonable expectation that transportation would be ready when schools reopened.

The first day of school was not an unexpected event.

Leadership knew when students would return. There was time to confirm routes, assess staffing, train employees, validate student information, test systems, communicate with families and establish contingency plans.

When an organization is responsible for transporting thousands of children every day, readiness cannot be assumed. It must be verified.

Superintendent Dr. Shawn Joseph has acknowledged the seriousness of what happened, describing it as a "leadership failure" and giving the district an "F" for its transportation performance. He also acknowledged failures involving staffing, technology and communication.

I appreciate that level of accountability. Leadership requires acknowledging when an organization falls short.

PGCPS has also announced a transition in transportation leadership. Keba Baldwin is stepping down as Director of Transportation, and former PGCPS Chief Operating Officer Dr. Mark Fossett will serve as Acting Director and lead a transportation transition team. PGCPS says Baldwin is leaving to pursue another professional opportunity.

A leadership transition may be part of the response, but changing personnel alone will not prevent another failure.

Systems, processes and accountability must change too.

Fifteen Years in Technology and Leadership Have Taught Me This: Problems Should Be Found Before Customers Find Them

Over more than 15 years working in technology, engineering, risk management and leadership, I have learned that successful organizations do not wait for a crisis to discover whether they are ready.

They test. They validate. They identify risks. They assign ownership. They establish contingency plans. And leaders ask difficult questions before the public is affected.

That same discipline should have been applied to school transportation.

Weeks before opening day, senior leadership should have had a transportation-readiness dashboard answering fundamental questions: How many students still lacked confirmed routes? Were there enough trained drivers? Could every route realistically be completed? Were student and routing data accurate? Were critical systems functioning? What unresolved risks remained?

And above all: Are we ready for the first day of school?

If the answer was no, leadership should have known.

If warning signs existed, they should have been escalated.

And if critical risks remained unresolved, contingency plans should have been activated before families experienced the consequences.

That is what operational leadership looks like.

Parents Should Never Be the Emergency Alert System

I also view this issue as a Prince George's County parent.

Parents should not be the ones discovering that the transportation system is not working.

We should not have to stand at a bus stop wondering whether a bus is coming. We should not have to search social media or call other parents for information. And when the school day has ended, no parent should be left wondering why their child has not arrived home.

If a bus is significantly delayed, parents should receive proactive communication.

If a route cannot be completed, families should know.

When a widespread problem occurs, leadership should communicate quickly, clearly and consistently—even when every answer is not yet available.

Communication during a crisis is a leadership responsibility.

We Need a Transportation Readiness Framework

The solution is not another apology.

PGCPS should establish a clear transportation-readiness framework before the next school year.

First, conduct a transparent after-action review. Identify what failed, when leadership became aware of the problems, what warning signs existed and why existing safeguards did not prevent the disruption.

Second, establish a 30-, 60- and 90-day readiness process before school opens. Transportation leadership should report measurable progress on routes, staffing, training, student data, technology and communications rather than waiting until opening week to discover problems.

Third, create an executive transportation dashboard. Senior leadership should be able to see unresolved routes, staffing shortages, excessive projected ride times and other critical risks in real time.

Fourth, assign clear ownership. Every major transportation function should have a responsible leader, deadline and escalation process. When a critical milestone is missed, senior leadership should know immediately.

Fifth, require a tested contingency plan. If staffing, technology or routing fails, there should already be a documented Plan B ready to activate.

Finally, establish parent communication standards. Families should receive timely information about delays and disruptions instead of having to chase information themselves.

None of these solutions requires waiting until next August.

The preparation for the first day of school next year should begin with the lessons learned from this one.

Leadership Is About What Happens Next

Technology can fail. Staffing challenges can happen. Human mistakes will occur.

The responsibility of leadership is not to promise that nothing will ever go wrong. The responsibility of leadership is to build an organization that identifies problems early, responds quickly, communicates clearly and has a plan when something does go wrong.

After 15 years in technology and leadership, that is the standard I believe we should expect from any organization responsible for a mission-critical service.

And as a parent, my standard is even simpler:

When we put our children on a school bus, we should be able to trust that they will arrive at school and return home safely.

Success is not a route appearing in an application.

Success is the bus showing up.

Success is children arriving safely and within a reasonable timeframe.

Success is parents receiving accurate information when something goes wrong.

And success is leadership learning from failure and ensuring it is not repeated.

I appreciate Dr. Joseph's willingness to acknowledge that leadership fell short. That acknowledgment is an important first step.

Now comes the real test of leadership:

What changes because of it?

Prince George's County families do not need another apology next school year.

We need preparation, accountability and a transportation system ready to deliver from day one.