Due to decreased transportation staffing we are in need of making noticeable changes that will affect most of our bus riders.

These changes for your family MAY include:

• Route/Animal Changes
• Pick-up and/or Drop-off times
• Centralized pick-up and drop-off locations, in lieu of door to door service.
  • We are working hard to ensure that families will only need to get students approximately ½ mile to these centralized stops.  A few may have to travel up to 1 mile
  • We are requiring that any student in the primary school has an adult meet us at these centralized stops. No primary student should be dropped off without an adult present.
• Early on-campus drop off (7:30am) AND Late on-campus departure (4:05pm) for some routes

The biggest change for some students will be requiring certain routes to drop off at school around 7:30am and not be taken home until approximately 4:05pm. Please know we are working diligently to not pick up these students earlier from home or drop off later at home than before. Our goal is instead of a student sitting on a bus for 90 minutes, they will be on the bus for less time and spend other time finishing homework or eating breakfast while waiting with staff supervision in their buildings.

Drivers and administrators will be contacting families via phone, and walking them through specific changes on January 3rd and 4th. We are working to release a list of centralized stop locations before the new year on our website and social media pages. If you have any emergency questions please contact the bus barn this week.

Why are we making these changes?

• Transport the same number of students with 40% less drivers, alleviating our driver and substitute driver shortage.
• Decrease the overcrowding on many routes
• Decrease the time most of our students are sitting in a bus.

Why are we JUST NOW learning of these changes and why aren’t specifics being communicated earlier?

Staffing changes can happen at a moment’s notice. We have been working tirelessly to recruit new drivers and bring old drivers back. However, with recent developments in staffing, these efforts have fallen short. We have no control over many obstacles we face, and unforeseen staffing shortages is one of them. As soon as we realized the need to shift we began making a plan. This plan is still not finalized nor have drivers had time to conduct trial runs to better inform families of details. These things are happening over Winter Break.

What can my family do to prepare for these changes?

As you work with very little information over the next couple of weeks, there are still options you can consider doing to help Cleveland Schools and prepare with your family over the holidays. 

• Make tentative plans for your young children to get transported to and from a centralized bus stop, approximately ½ mile from your home. 
• Or reevaluate with your employer and household members the ability of the adults in your home to provide transportation to and from school. 
• Please remember school bus transportation is a service we provide (not required) to get your students to and from school. They do not have to ride the bus. This is a question we encounter every year.