Framingham School Committee Seeks Solution To Late Buses

Students on some bus routes in the district are still arriving late to school, according to data the district examined at Wednesday's School Committee meeting.

According to Framingham Wicked Local, lateness problems have occurred in the district since the beginning of the school year, and Wednesday's meeting offered a snapshot of some of those issues with a presentation from Patricia DiSalle, acting director of the Transportation Department, and James Dobson, acting assistant director. While traffic and construction contribute to normal delays, DiSalle said the department is also short-staffed, with two empty dispatcher positions. While the department goes through applicants to fill the positions, DiSalle and Dobson have stepped up to do the jobs themselves.

School Committee Chairman Adam Freudberg said the committee is working with the transportation department to come to a solution. “We dove into this topic respectfully, with a collaborative approach, learned about dedicated hard-working transportation department staff, and numerous proactive action steps taken and in the works to provide better communication, customer service, and on-time busing for the more than 6500 students who ride. Yet what it comes down to is the need for immediate definitive results, because I believe a student’s reliable transportation to and from school is an earned right. I spoke last night to encourage FPS Transportation to come back to the committee soon with updates, and not wait until the start of the next school year to implement changes,” he said.

Changes could be on the way, DiSalle said in the meeting that the department is looking for a more efficient way to communicate with parents when buses are running late. A tracking app is in the works, but there is no hard date on when it will be ready.

Read more on Wicked Local.

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