Findlay Schools works on transportation woes

FINDLAY — The Findlay City Schools Board of Education continued to address ongoing transportation challenges at its Monday board meeting. Superintendent Andy Hatton told the board that stabilizing the district's transportation services remains a top priority. He updated the board on the progress made since the Sept. 5 work session, which addressed significant issues, including the resignation of two drivers before the start of the school year and another on the first day. "Since we last met, we started a new driver that isn't driving yet, but is within that training and onboarding system and we have another within that training pipeline," Hatton said. "I also got word after I wrote this statement that we have two more interviews tomorrow for drivers. The two that are in the training pipeline right now will backfill positions that were vacated on or before that first day of school, so we still need more drivers." The district is currently recruiting two more flex drivers to support transportation services for afterschool activities. To expand its outreach, FCS has posted job openings through the Northwest Ohio Human Resources Association, OhioMeansJobs, Google Jobs and its own social media accounts. Hatton noted that a recent post about driver openings was shared more than 70 times. In addition to staffing, the district is continuing to work through operational challenges with Transfinder, the routing software implemented this year. Hatton said efforts are underway to fully integrate the software by providing clean data for the system, offering hands-on training for drivers and dispatchers and updating the GPS software on all the buses. "We're testing out our current tablets and some proprietary tablets from Transfinder to see which is the best combination, so that we can get things absolutely right," Hatton said. "Our goal is to have these current updates executed within the next six weeks or so, as we work to onboard new drivers." If progress continues, the district hopes to restore and expand transportation services as early as January or February. Goals mentioned during the Sept. 5 work session include: • Restoring high school bus services • Reducing the walk radius for grades K-5 from two miles to one • Maintaining the two-mile walk radius for grades 6-12 • Continuing single routing services • Limiting student walking distances to a quarter mile to bus stops Hatton warned the board not to commit to any timeline, saying it is important to implement changes correctly to avoid further disruptions. "The message that I heard from the board was that any changes that we make, we want to make sure that they're correct right out of the gate to minimize disruption to students and families," he said. If services cannot be restored by the end of the semester, the district is planning to reevaluate transportation services the following fall, noting cold weather and student safety as key factors in restoring services. "I will not guarantee a timeline," Hatton said. "If we are unable to enhance busing services at the end of February, we should probably wait until the subsequent school year, next school year, given the upheaval that it would cause going into spring break or even after spring break." The Board of Education is scheduled to meet again on Monday, Sept. 29, for a special work session to prepare the district's four-year financial forecast ahead of the state's Oct. 15 deadline.