Schools

District 68 on Busing: Still "Daily Bumps in the Road"

Westway's new hires should improve service, officials said.

It's almost October, and yes, busing service at still has "daily bumps in the road," officials said Monday at the district board meeting. 

"We're still not where we wish we were or expected to be," Kevin Wegner, assistant superintendent for business, told the board.

Thing are much, much better, said Superintendent Cathy Skinner, though a lack of permanent drivers continues to be a problem. "It's been a problem all over DuPage County," she said.

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Westway Coach, Inc., the company providing the district's busing services, still can't tell Wegner what happened , he said.

"They didn't tell me why they did not staff up before the start of school," he said.

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They were four to five drivers short but it wasn't uncommon for taking on a new contract, he said. During the first few days of school, several bus drivers quit, which compounded the problem.

More drivers have been hired and are going through training, waiting for certification. "Once they come on board, we expect the majority of issues that are somewhat of a nuisance to wane," Wegner said.

Board Member Leslie Pollack asked if the board could come up with some procedure or protocol for when the district switches bus companies again.

"Is there something more we could of done?" Wegner said. "There always is."

The district will do things differently if it switch bus companies again, he said.

"If we switch again, we will be much more involved in the first year," Wegner said. "I trusted that they were competent enough to do this and I don't know that in my professional career I'll ever get over it."

Wegner said the location of Westway's bus depot had not affected service. The company uses a depot in Lemont which is farther away. For this reason, Westway buses have been seen parked around town during the day as drivers forego the trip back to the depot.

District 68 chose to work with Westway Coach this school year as part of an agreement with Downers Grove Grade School District 58 and . The three districts decided combining bus services would provide financial savings for each.

Both Districts 68 and 99 said they are determining how to move forward in terms of financial compensation for Westway's poor service, which included missed stops, missing buses and students being dropped off late to school and late to home.


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