Montclair Schools Tackle Busing Problem On First Day Of Class

MONTCLAIR, NJ — The oppressive heat wave that cut school days short across New Jersey wasn’t the only challenge that the Montclair Public School District faced last week, with a busing issue also reported on the first day of class.

Some students began the year without a bus assignment or route in Genesis, the online portal that the district uses to distribute information to parents, including bus details.

Superintendent Jonathan Ponds spoke about the situation during the Montclair Board of Education’s meeting on Sept. 6, saying that the district “won’t make any excuses” and is taking full responsibility (watch the video here).

The district’s supervisor of transportation, Sheila Maurice, apologized to all the impacted families, especially “those of our most vulnerable population.”

According to Maurice:

“Over the summer, we upgraded our transportation system from Routefinder Pro to Routefinder Plus. During this transition, data was verified by the transportation department. And once Genesis was accessible to parents on September 1, that is when we were made aware that some of the student data was not was not able to populate over into the parent portal of Genesis. Once we became aware of the issues, we have been working diligently around the clock to ensure eligible students are assigned to their routes. All will be resolved by noon on Friday (Sept. 8). We will also be conducting an audit of both systems, and we'll be reporting on the findings at the September 18 board meeting. For next year, we will release bus information to the parents before September 1.”

Ponds thanked Maurice for being transparent and “tackling the problem head on.”

Send local news tips and correction requests to eric.kiefer@patch.com. Learn more about advertising on Patch here. Find out how to post announcements or events to your local Patch site. Don’t forget to visit the Patch Montclair Facebook page.