Students at Fountain-Fort Carson School District 8 in Colorado board their school bus. The district has so far avoided a driver shortage.
full school year as the transportation director. “Dealing with this all at once was challenging,” she
commented. But rather than delaying needed progress, Arm-
strong decided to forge ahead while trusting and depending on her team. In the process, she said she felt fortunate to have the assistance of a senior pro- gramming analyst from the technology department, whose primary focus is transportation. Thanks to her work and the cooperation of other staff, the district was able to kick off three of the four upgrades on the first day of school, with RFID scanning scheduled for a later deployment, Armstrong noted.
Adjusting To Routing Challenges For many school districts, including Denver Pub-
lic Schools, school closings have brought significant routing challenges. “We knew that we had to provide options for the stu-
50 School Transportation News • OCTOBER 2025
dents affected by closures, so transportation created a plan to create three enrollment zones,” Samora said. “This would give the students who were affected by the closures a choice of where they could attend.” Planners realized that changes were difficult for the
communities involved, so they focused on coordinat- ed communication and problem-solving with affected communities. Striving for transparency was a priority in the process, said Samora, adding the work paid off. “Our route packages came out right where we need- ed them to be,” he said. “That was a happy surprise and very much needed for the success of our program.” On a more temporary basis, road construction can
also pose routing challenges. “Planned closures or lane shifts can cause delays for
our drivers,” Silverthorn in Ohio said. While local offi- cials provide advance notice of major projects, tricky situations happen when private contractors close a road temporarily without notifying school or city
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68
