Millburn Superintendent On School Busing Issues: ‘Please Bear With Us’

MILLBURN, NJ — After a colossal failure to start the year for Millburn school bus riders and their parents, what progress have local school administrators made towards smoothing out the bumpy ride?

The short answer? “Please bear with us a little longer,” according to Superintendent Christine Burton.

On Wednesday, a few weeks after admitting that the busing issues which plagued the Millburn district at the onset of the school year amounted to a “colossal failure,” Burton provided an update about the recent progress that administrators have made about problems such as route timing, late buses, drivers and safe stops.

• See related article: Millburn Busing Routes Are ‘Colossal Failure,’ School Superintendent Says

According to Burton:

• “We have hired an Acting Supervisor of Transportation. She has already begun reviewing routes, route timing and bus stops, as well as considering the issues we are hearing about from you. She and a transportation engineer have been updating routes, informed by the adjustments that have been made by drivers and chaperones. She will now be the consistent liaison with the bus companies to give and get feedback on issues that arise each day. Please give us time to let her get settled in and focus on the tasks at hand.”
• “We have also brought in additional support staff for the transportation department to answer calls and emails, organize and triage concerns, and resolve issues in coordination with the supervisor.”
• “We are adding additional chaperones to buses to assist your students and drivers in their routes, as well as to bring concerns back to the Transportation Supervisor.”
• “We were pleased with the rollout of the distribution of bus passes via the PowerSchool Parent Portal. This portal allowed us to distribute bus information in an efficient and environmentally friendly manner. Future updates to your child’s transportation will be communicated individual rather than through the portal.”

Moving forward, Millburn students and their guardians should start to see improvements each day, Burton said.

“Where we have been able to do so easily, we have made some bus stop changes this week,” Burton stated Wednesday. “We are looking at all routes to see where we can address reasonable requests for route and stop modifications.”

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