Category: Transportation

Changes Coming in PGCPS Transportation System

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by Lori Morrow

How many PGCPS buses did you see during your morning commute today? According to Prince George’s County Public Schools administration, there are over 1,000 PGCPS drivers handling 5,000 bus routes to transport upwards of 85,000 students to and from school every day. This makes PGCPS the tenth largest school transportation system in the country.

Unfortunately  a large system combined with a nationwide shortage of qualified drivers with a Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) has led to headaches for students, parents, PGCPS staff, and elected officials across Prince George’s County. It is a frequent topic for social media posts, emails, and Board of Education testimony. On February 6th, a parent testified about buses being so crowded that students resort to sitting in the aisle. Despite years of monthly hiring fairs, the shortage persists. Student enrollment has rebounded over the past decade and continues to grow. Four thousand new students enrolled in PGCPS since the September 30, 2019 report by Pupil Accounting. The growth in specialty program offerings also means more students are being transported beyond their neighborhood school.

On February 5th, the PGCPS Administration presented a briefing on Transportation to the Education and Workforce Development Committee of the Prince George’s County Council. Chief Operating Officer Barry Stanton, Associate Superintendent for Support Services Mark Fossett, and Director of Transportation Rudy Saunders provided the committee with an update on the current status of the PGCPS Transportation system, including current challenges and how the school system is working to overcome them.

Persistent vacancies and absences in PGCPS Transportation create a unique challenge. When a teacher is absent, there is a pool of substitutes or other school staff that can fill in. When someone on the executive team is absent, the work may wait for a day or two. Students who need to get to school, however, cannot be set aside. PGCPS does not have a pool of substitute bus drivers. Lot foremen with CDLs can fill in but that leaves offices unattended. Other bus drivers pick up the extra routes, but they do not have the ability to be in multiple places at the same time. As a result, students are late and missing out on instruction every day.

In tackling this ongoing issue, PGCPS Chief Executive Officer Dr. Monica Goldson established a Transportation Task Force this past fall. Composed of staff and parents, the Task Force has met three times so far and is set to finish their work in March of 2020. They expect to provide Dr. Goldson with preliminary proposals by the end of February.

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Sound Off: Parents Call for Better Bus Transportation

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IMG_6355Some Prince George’s County parents have expressed frustration with the inadequacies in the school bus transportation system. Here, seven parents share their stories.

My son’s school day ends at 3:40, but he doesn’t arrive at his after-school care facility until some time between 5:35 and 5:55, just a few minutes before I pick him up from after care at 6:00 pm. He doesn’t have time to do his homework during after care, and he is struggling in school as a result. In the morning, he either arrives late to school and misses breakfast; or he eats breakfast when he arrives to school 15-30 minutes late, thus making him 30-45 minutes late to class.

— Kari Fischer

My son is bused for his IB+Autism high school, but the afternoon bus a) takes 2+ hours and b) picks up 15 minutes before school ends! Missing a chunk of academics — Algebra, no less — to leave 15 minutes early each day to then sit for 2+ hours on a bus (when it’s a 15-20 minute drive) is unacceptable.

—Alex Antunes

We stopped trying to ride the bus after three weeks of frustration. We could never get through on the transportation hotline and all of my emails went unanswered by the transportation office. The bus was scheduled to arrive between 4:26 and 4:46 daily but typically left the school around 4:30 pm and arrived at the bus stop between 5:00 and 5:30 pm. My son started getting frustrated because his bus was so late to school in the morning that he missed the morning announcements and technology class. We simply gave up — no one even tried to address our concerns.

— Rashida T.

We live in Bowie. My daughter attends Eleanor Roosevelt in Greenbelt. The bus is consistently late, causing my daughter to be late to her first period class. The teacher has started waiting about 10 minutes to start class because he knows the buses are notoriously tardy. This takes away from the amount of time that the teacher has for instruction in class. For the students who are unfortunate enough to arrive later than 10 minutes past the start of class, they just miss out.
This year I gave the bus for my son’s school a shot early on, but now I have chosen to drive him to his elementary school. The bus this year is not punctual. Maybe it will get better in a few weeks.

 

— Camilla M.

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Parents, Board Address Transportation Issues

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by Genevieve Demos Kelley
IMG_6355The Prince George’s County Board of Education held its last meeting of the school year on June 14th and adopted—in a 9 to 4 vote—a $1.93 billion Annual Operating Budget for Fiscal Year 2017. Dissenting votes were cast by Edward Burroughs III, Beverly Anderson, Verjeana Jacobs, and Zabrina Epps.

The budget was significantly smaller than the $2 billion that the Board had requested from the County Executive in February. Dozens of cuts were made during the budget reconciliation process, including the $1.27 million proposal to hire 25 additional bus drivers for the 2016-2017 school year.

While the issue of bus transportation was by no means the only topic of the evening, it got plenty of attention from parents, students, Board members, and PGCPS employees. Here are some highlights of the transportation-related comments made during the meeting.

During the Public Comment portion:

A parent at 49:34 in the video of the meeting:

I was disappointed to see that the additional 25 bus drivers were cut in the reconciliation budget. The ongoing shortage of bus drivers has led to doubled-up routes, significant delays, and even the inability to answer the transportation hotline in the morning, because staff are needed to drive . . . Without the additional drivers, I sincerely hope that the transportation department is spending the summer looking for a more efficient way to get students where they need to be, because what we have now is not working well. Students cannot learn if they cannot get to school.

A Northwestern High student representing the Hyattsville Teen Advisory Committee at 1:11:17 (this is a must-watch testimony):

We did some research to find out what was causing the problem of late school buses, and we found two causes: poor pay and poor working conditions [boisterous applause from audience].  .  . [Bus drivers] are often disrespected by students on the bus, and students say that they don’t even know their bus drivers’ names. We recommend that all schools include bus drivers in their orientation at the beginning of the year, and the principal introduce the bus drivers to students and review the rules and consequences for riding the bus [more applause from audience]. We recommend that the school board pass a bus driver appreciation day for the district to honor and recognize the work of bus drivers who support our students and their schools.

Jossalyn Ford, chief steward for the Transportation Chapter of Local 2250 bus driver at 1:17:26:

We work very hard every day to transport the children who attend Prince George’s County Public Schools to and from safely. As we approach the end of the year, we are short of help. As you have very well know that we are doubling, tripling runs. We are tired. We’re doing our very best to transport these kids every single day. But as we do so, we have bus attendants also working with us who have been waiting two or more years to become permanent, to have benefits. HR keeps saying, ‘We don’t have the positions.’ They don’t have the money to hire these people.  .  . And we, as a local, can’t defend a sub-employee .  .  . But I’m telling you right now, we cannot go into next year doing what we’re doing this year.  .  . We have meetings on a month-to-month basis, where we come together and try to address all these issues, and nothing is being done.

A parent at 1:25:16:

I’m mom of a third grader at Tulip Grove Elementary, and for the past several weeks, we’ve been experiencing inconsistent and unreliable bus pickups in the morning. In particular, because of the doubling up on the routes and the tripling up on the routes, you know, sometimes it will be fifteen to thirty minutes before the children are picked up to go to school. We’ve had occasions when the bus just hasn’t appeared .  .  . [W]e could use some communication in some way shape or form, some kind of system in place that could notify parents of an issue, if a bus is going to be late, if a bus is not going to arrive. I’m thinking something similar to bus ETA, like what WMATA uses, something like that. Where we can have warning of notice of a late arrival time . . .If we know, as parent, what’s happening, what to expect, we can make other plans to get our children to school and to get ourselves to work on time. . . I would really urge you to reconsider the staffing levels for bus drivers, because we need to get these kids to school, rather than leave them standing out on the corner for 30 minutes in the morning.

During the Budget Consent Agenda Discussion:

Board member Verjeana Jacobs’s comments at 1:35:03 regarding the value of hiring additional bus drivers vs. adding Lacrosse as a varsity sport:

It’s really disheartening that our employees, bus drivers included, have gone years without adequate funding in the budget, and every year we expect them to just accept that we don’t have money, and it’s just not acceptable .  .  .  A lot of people in my district [District 5], let’s just be clear, love lacrosse. And I do too. But not at the expense of bus drivers who have to get our kids safe here every day, and not at the expense of class size, math specialists, and reading specialists.

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Weekly News Roundup: Tragedy in Oxon Hill

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A 14-year-old Oxon Hill teenager was fatally stabbed on Monday as he tried to protect his mother, who was being held at knifepoint by her boyfriend. His 18-year-old brother was also injured in the attack. Keyshuan Mason was a freshman at Potomac High school, and his family has seen an outpouring of support from the school community. (Washington Post)

Five were injured when a school bus and a pickup truck collided in Brandywine on Friday. Fifteen children were on the bus when the accident occurred. One student, the driver, and three others were injured. None of the injuries were life threatening. (WTOP, ABC 7)

Prince George’s County Public Schools is expanding its commitment to integrating arts with core academic subjects like math and English. The five-year plan is to expand the program to all schools in the system. (CBS DC)

A student recorded a cellphone video of a PGCPS school bus driver texting while the bus was in motion on the way to James Madison Middle School. The bus driver is still employed but is under investigation and may be temporarily suspended with the right to appeal. Changes in the PGCPS policy to include termination in the future are under consideration. (WTOP)

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Weekly News Roundup: Errors in Bus Drop-offs, SAT Scores Declining, “Less Testing, More Learning” Campaign

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A seven-year-old student riding the bus was dropped off four miles from his home on Tuesday, according to his mother. This is just one of several troubling bus transportation incidents involving Prince George’s County students during the first week of school (NBC4 and WTOP). PGCPS later apologized for the error and released a video statement addressing concerns (NBC4).

Maryland SAT scores for graduating high school seniors have declined for the third year in a row. The average composite score for Maryland students (1552) is 28 points lower than the national average. ACT scores, on the other hand, increased for the third straight year. (Baltimore Sun)

The Maryland State Education Association has begun a campaign called, “Less Testing, More Learning” (MSEA). An MSEA-sponsored forum addressed concerns about the overuse of standardized testing in Maryland schools (Maryland Reporter).

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The Best Thing About the First Week of School . . .

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Ten Prince George’s County parents have shared with us something that a teacher, principal, or other staff member did to make the first day or week of school successful.

  • 100_3395crMy son’s teacher sent home a letter on the first day of school introducing herself and briefly telling us what to expect in the coming school year. The letter was full of warmth and enthusiasm, and I immediately felt that she was drawing me in as a participant in the class.
  • I was very happy our school organized a back-to-school event before the school year started. It is a great way to take care of some practical issues and ask questions before the often chaotic first day of school. I feel like everyone is more prepared for the year from day one.
  • My son attends a school for kids with severe disabilities that is very far from our neighborhood school. One of the children on his bus has a very hard time on the bus. The second day of the trip, I noticed the aide on his bus had brought a soft blanket with her to help the other girl feel more comfortable when she got on the bus. How sweet is that?
  • It’s so nice to walk into school in the morning and see all of the teachers at their classroom doors, smiling and greeting students! We appreciate the warm welcome.
  • My son’s second grade teacher put together a binder with tabs to keep all paperwork organized. It’s very straight forward. We also signed up for text messages from the teacher.
  • Our first day of school started off on a very positive note thanks to our children’s new bus driver. He greeted us and our children with a smile and seemed genuinely happy to be seeing children off to their first day of school. It set the tone for the rest of the day. Bus drivers are often seen as nothing more than chauffeurs, but a good bus driver can make a huge difference for kids. Continue reading →

Sound Off: School Bus Troubles

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by Amy Alford

IMG_6355My kindergartener’s buses have been astonishingly late during this first week of school. We drove him to Robert Goddard the first morning (Tuesday), but he rode the school bus home that afternoon. His bus was scheduled to arrive at the stop at 4:27, and it actually arrived at 5:15. His school day had officially ended at 3:55, one hour and 20 minutes before he arrived home.

When the bus had not appeared at 5:05, I called the school and was told that it had only arrived at the school to pick up students 10 minutes earlier. That leaves the school scrambling to provide supervision for students for an indefinite period. The second day (Wednesday), we arrived at the bus stop with ten minutes to spare (as PGCPS requests) before the scheduled pick up time of 8:39. The bus finally arrived to pick up my son at 9:30, a full 15 minutes after the school day is scheduled to begin.

Both mornings I tried calling the transportation department’s phone bank, as suggested on bus route letters to parents and on the PGCPS website. Wednesday morning, I called at 9:10 and waited on hold until the bus arrived at 9:30. I tried again at 11:30 am on Thursday, once it seemed reasonable to assume that all students had made it to school.  After 20 minutes on hold, I finally got through. The gentleman who answered was polite and efficient, and looked up the bus lot supervisor in charge of my son’s routes. He gave me a name and phone number and let me know that the lot supervisor is responsible for both the drivers and buses and is the person to call about both specific issues with buses and lost items left on school buses.

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How to Find an Official PGCPS Policy or Procedure on Anything You Want

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by Genevieve Demos Kelley

Prince George’s County schools have an official administrative procedure on nearly everything — from employee use of social media, to homecoming IMG_6358bonfires, to controlling head lice  — and you can find them all at the Office of General Counsel’s web page. More than one hundred Administrative Procedures (each is usually at least two pages long) are detailed on the website, as well as dozens of separate Board Policies that tend to be shorter and deal with governing principles rather than procedural minutiae.

The policies and procedures make for fascinating reading. For example, here are a few interesting details:

  • The guidelines for selecting read-aloud books for the elementary classroom include prohibitions against books that promote stereotypes (e.g. racial, gender, etc.), books with reference to sex education issues, and books “with reference to the supernatural (i.e., devils).”  Administrative Procedure 6180.4, Guidelines for Selecting Read-Aloud Books
  • Bonfires are permitted at homecoming athletic events but at no other time during the school year. The bonfires are heavily regulated to ensure safety and must be supervised by the Fire Department. Administrative Procedure 6146, Bonfires for Homecoming Athletic Event
  • Under certain conditions, teachers and other school personnel may use exclusion to address a student’s behavior, but each period of exclusion may not exceed 30 minutes. “Exclusion” is defined as “removal of a student to a supervised area for a limited period of time during which the student has an opportunity to regain self-control and is not receiving instruction including special education, related services, or support.” Administrative Procedure 5062, Student Behavior Interventions
  • Students found to have lice are excluded from school at the end of the day and may be readmitted with proof of treatment (e.g. note from medical provider or “empty package or box top from an over the counter medication and receipt of recent purchase.” The school nurse should re-screen affected children 7-14 days after treatment. Administrative Procedure 5162, Pediculosis (Head Lice) Control in Schools

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Moving the Needle: Six Low-Cost Suggestions for Improving Our Schools

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Tommi Makila, a PGCPS parent and community activist, offers his suggestions for improving the school system. The views expressed are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Prince George’s County Advocates for Better Schools.

This spring we heard that our County Executive, PGCPS CEO, and Board of Education members all wanted to “move the needle” when it comes to our schools and their performance. The prescription offered to achieve this boost was clear: more money and new programs.IMG_6404

I beg to differ with this view. Funding increases alone will not make PGCPS great. In fact, if we don’t change the way we run the school system, no amount of new funding will make a meaningful difference. I believe we could make significant strides just by focusing on what we already do, but doing it better, with minimal additional expenditures.

Of course, it is easy to say that we should run the system better. If we want real improvements, we must be specific in our suggestions. I want to open the conversation by sharing a few no-cost and low-cost ideas to improve our schools:

  • Back-to-school event at every school before school starts: This is all about preparedness from day one and catching parents and students when they are most excited about the upcoming school year. Most PGCPS schools have their only back-to-school event several weeks into the school year. The system-wide Back-to-School Fair at the Show Place Arena may be nice, but it attracts only a fraction of our student and parent population. What we need is an event before the school starts at every single school, as school-specific information is what parents and students want and need the most. Thanks to parent advocacy, for the last few years my son’s school has organized its own Back-to-School Fair right before school starts. According to the principal, it is the school’s best attended event.
  • Timely electronic communications: All schools should have good, up-to-date websites and they should utilize other forms of electronic communications. For example, I have heard from numerous parents that their schools collect email addresses from parents, but never use them. All teachers should have websites or use other electronic communication methods. Improvements in these areas will help both students and parents. How can you expect true parental engagement if parents don’t know what is happening at the school?
     
    This is an area where my son’s school, Accokeek Academy, has made great strides. When my son started at the school, its website was completely static and had badly outdated information. Now the site is informative and updated nearly daily during the school year, and important notices go out through email, text alerts, and social media. Any principal wanting to learn how to do electronic communications should talk to the crew at Accokeek Academy.

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2014 Maryland State Audit Calls for Better Use of Transportation Funds

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by Genevieve Demos Kelley

A Financial Management Practices Audit Report dated February 2014 identified 23 areas of needed improvement in the internal controls and cost-effective processes and policies of Prince George’s County Public Schools. The audit was performed by the Office of Legislative Services of the Maryland General Assembly, with field work being conducted in 2011 and 2012.

Highlighted in the report were recommendations for improving the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of bus transportation services. From page one of the report:

We found that PGCPS did not use its automated bus routing software to ensure the efficient use of its fleet of 1,146 buses. Furthermore, since the data contained in the routing system appeared to be unreliable and other manual processes were not effective, PGCPS was unable to assess bus utilization.

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