Parents Anxious as Cranston Scrambles to Sort Out Busing Assignments

Parents are anxious about the busing situation in Cranston as the start of the school year looms Wednesday and many have no idea which bus will be picking up their children at what time.

The school district is starting the year with a new transportation director, Thomas Reali, who was appointed in November, and a new software program that in the long run will streamline Cranston’s bus operations for the good. But right now, the transition has been taking some time, much to the chagrin of parents trying to plan family schedules.

The district on Monday issued a statement asking for patience.

“As we transition from a paper and pencil system to a new, more efficient electronic system, we ask for patience,” district officials said. “This year we have had some delays in notifying parents because of this new system; however, we are working very hard to be sure students and drivers are assigned properly. It is a massive task that affects thousands of students, and again, we ask for patience as we do this.”

In Cranston, the district offers transportation to parents of young children who attend daycare. It’s one of the perks that comes with the city running its own fleet of buses, unlike most other districts in Rhode Island that have privatized busing operations. But that courtesy service has made planning the routes more difficult, school officials said.

First, the district had to be sure all students eligible for busing had been assigned. Then students bused out of their home districts due to special assignments were factored in. Parents of those students should be getting cards in the mail Monday.

Finally, the district was able to move on to daycare requests.

Many parents were notified over the weekend, the release noted, but “ It is also important to understand that daycare busing is not done in every district and is a courtesy that we offer to our families, in an effort to assist parents with day care. We try very hard to accommodate parents’ requests, but sometimes, we are simply unable to do so. Every ‘exception’ to policy, while seemingly small, causes the route and service time to be compromised.”