LTHS Struggles To Get Bus Service Info

La Grange IL

31 May, 2022

10:26 AM

Description

LA GRANGE, IL – Lyons Township High School has struggled since last summer to get access to its bus contractor's app. In August, the school was informed by First Student that the company's area general manager would go over the app with a school administrator. The app would help the school track problems in bus service. But Associate Principal Greg Gardner indicated in an internal email last week that the general manager, Jason Kierna, never did so. Patch obtained the school's correspondence on the issue through a public records request. Last August, Gardner, who handles bus issues for the school, asked First Student's main contact, Jerry Evitts, about whether the app was up and running. "Is it accurate in terms of where buses are and estimated times?" Gardner said. "Our biggest complaint is that parents don't know what is happening, and we need to determine the easiest way to communicate AM route delays as well as PM pick-up delays." In late February, Gardner took advantage of another opportunity to ask for access to the app when Roger Moore, senior vice president of First Student, emailed a survey to school districts.Gardner responded by asking again about the app. "I understand the complexities of scheduling multiple schools on limited resources, but what I cannot understand is the inability of our local First Student depot to turn on and provide us access to the First Student (FirstView) app. We have continuously requested this service so that our parents and students may have a better understanding of the arrival time of their buses," Gardner wrote. Access to the app is especially important to prepare students and parents for delays during bad weather, he said. "The bus service in the morning has been late up to 60 minutes with little to no communication and often incorrect information," Gardner said. "This has left many parents, students, and us in a very bad position." He added, "We continue to request access to the app so that on days when our drivers call in, inclement weather or delays, (students) can wait in the warmth of their homes and not be out suffering in the weather." The records indicated that Moore never responded. In an email to Patch on Tuesday, school spokeswoman Jennifer Bialobok said the school completed paperwork for the app and met to review the technology side of the app and the rollout plan in late April. The district plans to share the registration process this summer, she said. Moore and Kierna did not respond to requests for comment last week. But First Student's spokeswoman, Jen Biddinger, said her company was in the process of deploying the app. "Data issues have been resolved, and we hope to implement the technology next school year," she said in an email. According to First Student's website, it is the largest school bus contractor in the United States. It drives 43,000 buses and employs 57,000, the website said.