Cascadia Elementary is a unique school in the district. It pulls kids from an extremely wide geography and has a large number of students. This means it takes a while to get the bus transportation routine down at the beginning of each year. And yes, it’s frustrating for both parents and students.
In any given year, close to a 1/3rd of students in the school are new to this process, and it can be somewhat confusing. Trust me in that it always starts this way and will take a week or two to settle down. The routes are new and often the drivers are new too. And what is especially frustrating is that at the end of the school day, the busses are held at the school until each and every student is accounted for and on the proper bus. Apparently on the first day, a student boarded the wrong bus and went for a ride… but thankfully was eventually reunited with their family. On the second day, a bus broke down on the way home and the children had to be transferred to a second bus. And yes, it’s frustrating.
My own son rides the bus most days, and on a perfect day it’s usually an hour both ways. He has a very long trip. He told me about the excitement at a stop a few before his, a mother walked up to the bus and effectively read the (brand new) driver the Riot Act about how her student was 30 minutes late. My son felt really bad for the driver, because he thinks he’s been one of the best. I don’t believe the mother knew is that in this first week, all busses wait at the school… and there’s more than a dozen of them… until each and every child is accounted for and verified on the correct bus. Then they are all cleared to depart. No one wants a child left behind. This process, especially at the beginning of the year, can take a LONG time. 30 minutes or more before the busses are cleared. That means they’re not rolling before 3pm sometimes.
As the students get to know exactly which is their proper bus, each driver gets to know each student and who should be on their bus, and everyone gets their routine down, it starts to run much more smoothly and on time. But that takes a few days. So please have a bit of grace with the process. Yes, I know it’s frustrating. But it gets better.
And speaking of better, the school’s transportation system is using a new mobile app for parents: it’s the “ZUM” app (www.ridezum.com), and its far more user friendly than the old software, including real time arrivals, GPS tracking, child “check ins” and “check out” and along with estimated delays. It also gives you a nice photo and name your child’s bus driver.
So yes, it’s a bit of a slog at first, and it will seem like the bus is perpetually late picking up and dropping off kids. But I guarantee you it will all click into place and run smoothly.