Major problems with busing students to and from schools have led to the firings of six transportation managers in the Dallas Independent School District.
KXAS-TV reports that the district has received thousands of complaints this year since beginning its new role of providing student transportation.
The district had to assume responsibility for busing for 2018-19 after Dallas County Schools, the bus agency that had been providing the service, was forced to shut down amid widespread corruption that cost taxpayers millions of dollars.
“I don’t want to make excuses," says Dallas superintendent Michael Hinojosa said. "We have to deliver. But if it’s not working, you can’t just keep going that direction. So we have made some drastic changes in personnel and systems."
The managers who were dismissed all had worked for the old bus provider and were kept on when the school district took over operations, Hinojosa says.
The problems were the most severe, the superintendent says, during the first couple of weeks of school. Most were related to the scheduling and routing of buses, responding to complaints, hiring the right personnel and adequately maintaining the fleet.
Hinojosa had advocated for the shutdown of Dallas County Schools, and had promised that school bus service would improve under school district control.
He says service is getting better, but much more needs to be done because some buses still are running late, and students are missing classes.
