HCPSS Chief Operating Officer Resigns Amidst Bussing Problems: Report

HOWARD COUNTY, MD — The chief operating officer for the Howard County Public School System has resigned, according to WJZ.

Scott Washington, HCPSS COO, resigned the week after school started, a week filled with bus route suspensions and more than 2,000 students without a ride to school. As of Tuesday, the district confirmed that 12 bus routes have been restored. Five routes have been canceled altogether. ZUM Transportation, the company HCPSS contracted with to provide drivers, said it had recruited, trained and certified 30 additional drivers over the weekend.

HCPSS Superintendent Michael Martirano said one of the issues that caused delays was the fact that some bus numbers did not match the ones parents found on the school district's "Connect" website, which is a platform used to communicate with parents. The buses are addressing the signage problem by having signs in their windows with the numbers that match those found in the HCPSS Connect website.

"While we have been able to address many issues, we continue to experience delays during both the morning and afternoon bus runs for our schools with start times at 8:40 a.m. and 9:15 a.m. The compression of the start times to support our goal of starting schools later has taken out any slack that we used to have in our routes and it is not realistically possible to keep buses on schedule due to the tight turnaround," the school district noted.

Howard County Executive Calvin Ball addressed the situation after countless families contacted his office with concerns.

“With the start of the 2023-2024 school year on Monday, Aug. 28, our Howard County government team is aware of the widespread school bus challenges, delays and temporary route cancellations associated with the Howard County Public School System (HCPSS). I share in the frustration that too many students, parents and families have experienced with these transportation hurdles," Ball said.

HCPSS Superintendent Michael Martirano said in a Friday email to students and their families that the county is going through “final testing and quality control assurances” for a mobile application from Zum Transportation, one of its independent contractors. The app will “allow families who ride Zum buses to track their child’s bus in real-time,” Martirano wrote in the email, which was shared by WTOP.

One parent told WJZ that the confusion caused her middle school-aged daughter to climb on the wrong bus.

"My daughter actually jumped on the high school bus this morning, not realizing it," parent Nikki Marlatt-Young said. "Then they got down the road, and then she told the bus driver that she was on the wrong bus, that she's a middle schooler and then he let her off right there."

Marlatt-Young said the bus driver left her daughter on a busy street.

"No sidewalks," Marlatt-Young said. "It's a huge busy intersection with a great deal of accidents. You're going to let her out at that intersection of all places? So yeah, not to mention she could've been snatched."

Related:

• Lengthy Bus Delays, Not Enough Drivers Plague HCPSS 1st Day Of School
• Mobile App To Help Howard Co. Parents Keep Tabs On Kids' School Buses
• School Bus Woes Worry HoCo Executive Who 'Shares Frustration' With Parents
• HCPSS Anticipates Bus Delays, Route Suspensions For 2nd Week Of School