Quanika Dukes-Spruill has overseen an increase of transportation services to 95 percent of eligible students for the Newark Board of Education in New Jersey, despite contractor bus drivers shortages.
school bus contractors on 537 routes. The district’s in-house fleet of 26 school buses and 13
ciency study. This resulted in the continued justification of operating a three-tier system instead of transitioning to a two-tier system that was under consideration. The Newark Board of Education (NBOE) is New Jer-
sey’s largest school district with an enrollment of 35,329 students and 66 schools. Transportation services are provided to eligible Newark students in charter, techni- cal and parochial schools. General education students qualified for transporta-
tion receive public transportation resources. Students attending specialized ELL programs and have transpor- tation identified through IEP services receive busing. Each day, 4,500 students with specialized services receive home-to-school transportation, provided by 53
drivers provide shuttle style transportation, athletic trans- portation support, field trip transportation, and mid-day trips for students taking college and university classes. The NBOE Office of Pupil Transportation’s three route managers coordinate and route for all in-district students as well as students attending Newark charter schools and cooperative pre-schools. They are liaisons between the vendor bus contractors, school teams and parents. Enhanced communication strategies include
check-ins, monthly meetings, and through required documentation. “Service to students from school bus contractors has
improved tremendously,” said Quanika Dukes-Spruill, Newark’s executive director of transportation. Prior to 2021, students were routed based on their
attending school, with buses assigned only to individual schools. When in-person instruction fully resumed in September 2021, more than 800 students were routed without busing assignments, said Dukes-Spruill, adding
22 School Transportation News • MARCH 2023
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