As representatives from Safeway Transportation Services Corp. fielded questions from Summit Hill Elementary District 161 officials on the botched busing situation for the start of the school year, eighth grade student Kimora Franklin calmly spoke from the dais.
“One of my peers last week, they came to school at least an hour and 30 minutes late,” said Kimora, one of two eighth grader appointed a student board member. “So what have you guys done to really fix that?”
Michael Comstock, regional manager with Safeway, replied that while he wasn’t sure on that particular incident, he will send the district the buses’ GPS arrival times.
“I hear you loud and clear,” Comstock said. “So thank you for that.”
Parents and district administrators in the district, which serves areas in Mokena, Frankfort and Tinley Park, have been frustrated with their bus service since school began last month.
They have said buses failed to show up at stops. In some cases, the buses arrived too early, causing students to miss the bus. Other parents said they waited nearly two hours for the bus to pick their children up in the mornings. In the afternoon, some buses returned to school hours after the school day and parents received a text to pick their children up.
“All of this placed our students, their families and our staff and the district in an unsafe and inappropriate position to start the school year,” Superintendent Paul McDermott said.
Earlier this month, Safeway CEO and founder Lucky Sahota took full responsibility for the rocky start to the school year, and district officials asked him to return Wednesday to answer additional questions.
McDermott said families deserve reliable transportation. While many issues have been resolved, some bus routes are still too long, he said, and they are working on reducing routes longer than 40 minutes.
He said he is “cautiously optimistic.”
“It is better; it’s not perfect,” McDermott said.
Sahota said since the board last met, service has improved.
Comstock said the volume of calls the company has received from parents has gone down.
McDermott said the district is working with Safeway representatives so parents and students have a better experience.
“These issues were not isolated to District 161 but included many other districts, none of whom saw this situation unfolding,” McDermott said. “There was no mention prior to the school year that there would be any disruption to our service after a successful year in 23-24.”
McDermott said after examining options, there is not another bus company that can step in and handle all the district’s routes. Using several different bus companies for its routes could be confusing and detrimental, he said.
“Supporting Safeway in this situation is the best path forward,” he said.
The district has put payments to Safeway on hold until the problems are resolved, McDermott said.
In the last month, improvements have been made. Safeway now has 24 unique drivers to serve the district so routes don’t overlap, McDermott said.
The district continues to work on routes with Safeway so that its students aren’t on the bus too long.
The Here Comes the Bus app, in which parents can track their children’s school bus, will come online Sept. 25.
The district has received bus videos to help building administrators deal with issues in a more efficient manner. Safeway also promised better service for extracurricular activities.
“I do feel there has been progress and transportation is improving,” McDermott said. “In the event the buses are consistently on time, you build trust.”
Advisory referendum
While district and Safeway officials said the bus troubles were not a result of the recent closings of two elementary schools, resident Patrick Oliphant said he collected enough signatures from registered voters to get an advisory referendum on the ballot Nov. 5.
The question asks voters if they approve of the way the district closed Arbury Hills and Frankfort Square schools without a corresponding reduction in the property tax levy.
The nonbinding referendum was challenged by Kevin McCleish, the husband of school board member Stephanie McCleish. While a number of signatures were tossed out, the question still had enough signatures to appear on the November ballot, the county clerk’s office said.
Oliphant said he wanted residents’ opinions to be heard.
Student representatives
At the start of Wednesday’s meeting, eighth grade students Kimora Franklin and Audrey Brown from Summit Hill Junior High School were selected as student board members and took an oath of office.
This is the first year the district is seating students on the board, which is rare for an elementary school district, officials said. Four interested students applied for the position, and the school board conducted interviews before making its selections.
The students cannot vote on matters and are not privy to confidential student and personnel matters, but they can offer a student perspective, which will help board members guide their decisions, board President Jim Martin said.
“The applicants were outstanding,” he said.
Kimora said she plans to enter politics to be “a voice for the voiceless.”
Audrey said she hopes student input on the board makes the community better.
At their first board meeting, they offered input from a student perspective on both transportation and technology issues.
“We were lacking a mechanism to communicate back and forth with the student body,” Martin said. “We are putting that mechanism in place.”
Michelle Mullins is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
