Jim Thorpe school board hears about bus issues

Jim Thorpe Area School District and its bus contractor have offered further explanation about the issues which led to late and overcrowded buses during the first days of the school year.

During a special board meeting Tuesday night, the superintendent and a supervisor from Brandywine Carbon Transportation spoke about why it has been difficult to get enough drivers to cover all the routes, and the temporary solutions in place.

Two parents also raised their concerns about the bus service their children have received since school started Aug. 28.

Brandywine Carbon was awarded a contract as the district’s sole transportation provider in May. The company is now responsible for twice as many bus runs as in previous years.

Superintendent John Rushefski acknowledged Tuesday that the district has had to combine some bus routes temporarily because there are not enough drivers to cover the routes.

He stressed that the solution is temporary, and that the district hopes to return to its normal level of service soon.

“We’ve had to make some decisions and we certainly want to move in a better direction as time goes on,” he said.

The combined bus runs have resulted in some buses having close to 70 students on board. That means students are sitting three in a seat. Sometimes junior high and elementary age students are riding the same bus. The state caps the number of students who can ride a bus at 72, but Rushefski said the buses are still too crowded.

“Some of these situations — close to 70 students on a bus, three side by side. That’s not what we’re looking for when we have kids with well-developed bodies, eighth-graders as opposed to kindergartners and first-graders, they’re small,” he said.

Rushefski said Brandywine currently has 33 drivers available to serve the district. Last year, there were 43 bus routes divided between Brandywine Carbon and Kuhn Transportation.

New drivers

He said two new drivers should be assigned to routes starting next week. The district is also going to look at having some drivers take on a second route (one at Jim Thorpe Area High School and one at L.B. Morris) if their current route is relatively short. That could reduce the total number of drivers needed.

Walter Schlenner of Brandywine Carbon said there are roughly nine applicants who are in going through the school bus driver hiring process.

Schlenner said it takes 12 weeks to hire, train and screen a new bus driver before a bus company can assign them to a route.

Schlenner said the application process consists of background checks, interviews and a drug screening. Successful applicants must complete classroom training and exams, a Pennsylvania Department of Transportation drug test, and additional background checks. Once those are passed, the applicant must complete six to 20 hours of training in a bus and a driver skills test.

When Brandywine received the contract as the district’s sole transportation provider, the company spent $2,000 in advertising looking for drivers. They offered all of the drivers who transported Jim Thorpe area students for Kuhn to join their company, and some did.

Schlenner there are cases where a driver has failed an annual physical because of diabetes or high blood pressure. It has left them with very little flexibility if a driver has to take a day off.

“Somebody takes off once, you’re short a driver right off the top. And you just have to all run all over again,” Schlenner said.

Rushefski said he expects that the bus service will improve, and that the contract with Brandywine has a lot of benefits for the school district. Brandywine has provided a fleet of new buses with updated features. Based on the way the state reimburses schools for bus service, the newer buses means that the district gets more subsidies, saving local taxpayers.

“If you look at what’s coming into the lot we’re very proud of the kind of product they’re driving our sons and daughters,” he said.

Rushefski said that over the five-year contract the district will save $1.6 million versus what they would have spent by staying with two bus contractors.

Parents’ concerns

Two parents who spoke at the meeting shared concerns about their child’s bus routes.

Brian Steigerwalt, a former bus driver, said his son’s bus run, which is already full, was combined with another run last week. He said that when he drove, he would not have considered that safe.

“The Iron Man and the Simba run were combined. My son’s bus is pretty much packed out already — how did you combine two runs and get them home safely?” he asked.

Mimma Korte, a Penn-Kidder parent, said her development was served by four buses in past years. This year, some days there are four buses, and other days, there are fewer. Korte suggested that due to the wide age range of students riding the bus, the district should hire bus monitors.

She said she has safety concerns due to the number of students on the bus, and her calls to the district and Brandywine have gone unreturned.

“This is a huge safety concern for the kids. As a parent, (it’s) not going to happen,” she said.

Wilmer Redline, who sits on the board’s transportation committee, said he supports hiring a handful of monitors who can be moved from bus to bus depending if there is a need.

“We should have at least three floating monitors. If there’s a problem with a bus, put a monitor on that bus,” Redline said.