JEROME, Idaho — The Jerome School District has announced changes to bus routes after classes were canceled for two days, due to “issues with our bus fleet” during afternoon routes.
In a Facebook post on Wednesday, officials said that several repairs and operational adjustments were needed to ensure student safety.
The district says the bus routing system was newly designed, and in an update issued on Thursday, the district identified "several key factors" that contributed to Wednesday's route issues.
What went wrong?
One contributor was a surge in student ridership, which pushed the district's capabilities, "to their maximum at startup." The district says it transported about 950 students last year, jumping up to around 1,300 this school year.
In addition, the district had reduced its walking zone, or "walking halo", from the state standard of 1.5 miles to nearly zero in an effort to better serve families. The district says the decision significantly impacted route times and overall ridership.
Along with those impacts, students who were not officially registered or routed were still allowed to ride buses, leading to unaccounted students, overcrowding on some routes and underutilization on others.
District leaders also cited a lack of time to finalize registration data and practice the new system before the school year began.
New rules starting on Monday
To prevent future delays, the district is rolling out new changes on Monday.
Students will only be allowed on buses if they are properly registered and have a confirmed route. Anyone without a confirmed route will be kept at school and asked to contact a parent or guardian for pickup.
The walking zone will be set at a quarter mile, meaning students who live within that distance will not receive bus transportation. Exceptions will be made in certain safety zones.
A live tracking system will also launch Monday, with students receiving bus air tags that allow parents and staff to monitor ridership in real-time using the Compass app.
Updated routes and pickup times will be communicated to parents through the Compass app by Sunday.
District leaders say they’ve already started planning how to avoid similar issues next year.
The district also issued an apology, writing, “We thank you for your patience and understanding as we work to build a reliable and safe transportation system for our community. Again we are deeply sorry for our execution yesterday and thank you for your continued partnership. We do not take our stewardship of the community lightly and want to be accountable as we continue to grow the Jerome School District."
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