JEROME, Idaho β Jerome School District officials are speaking publicly following widespread confusion and frustration over their new school busing system, which led to the cancellation of school last week.
Some parents called the situation "chaos" and chose to drive their children to school instead of wondering if their kids would be able to get on a bus.
'What I would say to the parents is that I'm sorry, and I understand that it's frustrating;' Hear from Jerome School District officials:
"We still have improvements; each day is getting better and better," said Tim Hicks, transportation director.
It's been a challenging week for Hicks, who oversees the district's transportation operations.
"Definitely a night and day difference from last week," Hicks said.
Superintendent Brent Johnson said they've seen significant improvements this week compared to the first unsuccessful week of transporting students to and from school.
"But I would say to the parents is that I'm sorry and I understand that it's frustrating," Johnson said.
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The bus system, which is brand new to the district, uses routing software that relies on Google Maps. In Jerome County, Google Maps contains numerous inaccuracies.
"It'll put it in a place that's not their home, or an incorrect address, or in a cornfield," Johnson said.
And, while it's one thing for Amazon to "deliver" your package to a corn field, it's not possible to deliver children to the wrong location.
We previously reported how many parents were frustrated when students who were enrolled to ride the bus were dropped at the last minute.
"And then got an email last night at 6:42 pm on Sunday, the day before school, that she was disqualified from the bus due to some inconsistencies," said parent Logan.
Johnson said the transportation and IT departments found a software glitch responsible for many of those disqualifications and are working to sort through the issues using transportation forms parents have been asked to fill out.
"If you look at the next two weeks, I think we'll be able to address and route all of those concerns within that form and have everybody up and running," Johnson said.
The process requires manual data entry to correct the routing problems.
"I would anticipate by the end of next week we'll have all of those routed and completed for the district," Johnson said.
Jerome is still hiring for more school bus drivers.
WATCH our previous coverage of the bus-related school cancellations
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