Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer
School buses are overcrowded and often cause students to arrive late for class because of the routing system and other issues, the Baltimore County Board of Education was told Thursday.
Pointing to one key problem, Sandra Wasilewski, a bus driver for 19 years, said there is a shortage of drivers.
“We are on and off the clock sometimes four times a day, which means your day consists of about 11 hours, but you only get paid for eight hours,” Wasilewski told the board. “This is why we’re overcrowded on the buses. It’s not fair to the students or the bus drivers and it’s not safe.”
A driver’s starting salary is $15.73 per hour and bus attendants start out at $10.72 an hour, Wasilewski said. She explained that a school bus driver left to work for a trash truck company for $4 an hour more than what she was making driving precious cargo in Baltimore County.
“The last time I saw the numbers, our planned ridership far exceeded our available capacity and that doesn’t include last minute registrations,” said Board member Julie C. Henn. “We’re talking three to four students to a seat at the secondary level. I get messages from parents constantly of kids sitting on the floor and standing in the isle.”
Interim Superintendent Verletta White said they received 30 percent fewer complaint calls in the first week of school than last year.
However, Board member Kathleen S. Causey said the first week of school was closed due to lack of air conditioning and 90 percent of emails starting the school year were transportation complaints. Causey repeated Wasilewski’s concern about a shortage of bus drivers but added that other primary causes of transportation problems are timeliness, over capacity and getting radios on school buses to report possible traveling issues.
The software routing system was designed to make the transportation system more efficient but caused more issues said bus driver David Magrogan.
“The software causes us to speed and make U turns in the wrong place,” he said. “Things we shouldn’t be doing, we’re doing only to make our route work the way it’s given to us and every day it’s a new route.”
Magrogan explained that the new software program came out about three years ago and created new problems because it squeezes in runs and replaces a lot of drivers. He added that it causes havoc for drivers but looks good in the software because it reports the significant number of students who were transported to school.
However, Magrogan said it doesn’t report how late and what time the students arrive to school. He added that the first week of school is always a disaster with transportation because drivers are still learning and tweaking the routes, but now every week is chaotic.
Magrogan said that every time he receives a new route sheet, he receives a new set of kids, and has been assigned 25 buses since the beginning of the school year.
Causey asserted that the county needs to know the number of students on buses that exceed the riding capacity, the number of students who arrive late for school, call tickets and the number of bus drivers to provide funding and more staff.
High school student Andrew Rilla said that some days the bus is overcrowded and contains elementary school students. Last year, the bus went to four stops including a high school, a middle school, and two elementary schools, he said. The stops were then cut down to two.
However, when he went to his original bus stop, he had to ride an overcrowded short bus.
“It’s sad that we go to a Magnet school that we tested to get in and we’re excited to go but we’re late every single day,” Rilla said.
White said officials don’t plan to overcrowd the buses. She added that they consider how many buses are needed based on the number of students who are eligible, and the number of students who have historically ridden a certain bus. Also overtime they look at whether adjustments need to be made.
White explained that there are times when students don’t ride the bus, which is the reason why routes may be changed and there may be more space. She added that sometimes students carry bigger bookbags and instruments than anticipated which makes the buses seem overcrowded.
Director of Transportation David McCrae said the goal is to have no more than three elementary level students per seat and no more than two secondary level students per seat on the bus. Students are assigned two buses on a day by day basis. He added that they have 81,000 eligible students but couldn’t provide the exact number of ridership.
“We need to put more money into transportation and more money and respect to the bus drivers because they do a lot for these kids and want to get these kids on time in school,” Rilla told the board.