Working out the kinks: Allentown School District adjusts to new bus company, in-house routing

ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Allentown School District still is working out the kinks after starting the school year with a new transportation company and in-house routing process.

Student Transportation of America took over as the district’s transportation provider July 1 and has a $60 million, five-year contract.

Also, for the first time this year, ASD began managing bus routing itself.

At Thursday’s school board meeting, school directors raised concerns about the new bus company and bus routes while acknowledging there’s bound to be some challenges in the early days of the school year.

“We’re heading to almost a month since school has started, and I think a lot of people are getting really frustrated,” School Board President Andrene Brown-Nowell said.

Route changes

ASD Transportation Director Andrew Krahulik-Knapp said he is working to improve communication between the district and STA to address concerns more quickly.

He began sending bus drivers routing changes ahead of time with a day's break in between so they can familiarize themselves with the new routes before a child starts on their bus, Krahulik-Knapp said.

He said bus drivers did test runs in mid-August, but STA had to bring in extra bus drivers from around the state after realizing it was short on staff for the first day of school, Aug. 26.

The new drivers didn’t get to do test runs until the weekend before school started, and they still are learning their way around Allentown, he said.

“We’ve had a lot of bumps along the way, but we’re all working together to improve our transportation system for the benefits of all our students and parents,” Krahulik-Knapp said.

Krahulik-Knapp said the district has re-routed numerous buses because of additional special education students and new routes for pre-kindergarten students and students who are homeless.

The list of students who need to be factored into routing continues to grow; the first set of route changes were completed last week.

Routing length, charter schools

The district also is working to fix bus stop times and other concerns, Krahulik-Knapp said. STA is providing additional routing and support staff assistance.

School Director Jennifer Lynn Ortiz said district parents are having trouble contacting STA. When parents call the transportation company, they get an automated message that calls aren’t being taken currently.

“Nobody can get through,” she said.

Krahulik-Knapp said he will have the STA general manager look into the issue.

Ortiz also shared concerns about a route that transports students from Seventh Generations Charter School and St. Ann School, both in Emmaus.

She said some students are on the bus for more than an hour each way because the route is prolonged by serving both schools.

“These kids are having accidents on the bus on the way home,” she said. “Kids are getting cranky, rammy. It’s an issue.”

'Some Grace'

Krahulik-Knapp said students from those schools are on the same bus for efficiency because the schools are three blocks apart.

They also have start and dismissal times within 15 minutes of each other.

Krahulik-Knapp said he needs to see how the first three weeks of transportation go before adjusting this route.

School Director Lisa Conover asked that school directors and the community give STA and the district “some grace.”

“It’s new, and I’m still optimistic in terms of us being able to get those kinks out and meet the needs of our students and the district,” Conover said.

The district also is scheduling a meeting for this week between Allentown charter school representatives and the Lehigh and Northampton Transportation Authority to address any service concerns.

Secondary charter school students began using LANTA instead of district busing this year.

Secondary students from Lincoln Leadership Charter School, Executive Education Charter School and Roberto Clemente middle and high schools now can get free transportation on LANTA, just as ASD secondary students do.