It's the sixth week of classes for OPS students and the busing problems continue to linger. Tonight the school board will get another update from Student Transportation of America.
Reporter Nick Starling is live with more on what to expect.
Improving but much more work needs to be done. That's what folks here at OPS are saying about the current busing problem. KMTV has been investigating the problem. OPS staff members are covering 10 routes by driving school vans. STA and the OPS Transportation Department said consolidating routes and helping with others has reduced the late buses to four routes. We've uncovered emails saying OPS contacted 85 custodians at their schools to see if they could drive. Nine of them volunteered and make up some of the new drivers. OPS Board President Lou Ann Goding says all of them have CDL's and are insured to drive. "In those cases where it's individuals who have never worked with students in a vehicle we are putting paras on with them so that the paras can be with the students so it didn't leave someone who isn't typically dealing with students."
Many board members say looking back it would be great if they could have identified the problem earlier and contacted those families directly. It wasn't until the weekend after school started that OPS identified 65 routes that weren't covered.