District’s transportation woes continue in new school year

North Royalton Superintendent Mike Laub said that even though the start of the  2023-24 school year brings with it many changes, the district’s transportation woes is not one of them.

“As you know, districts across Ohio, including [ours,] have struggled to recruit and retain bus drivers,” Laub said. “As a result, we experienced times last school year when we made daily bus changes to get students to and from school. This bus driver shortage created a situation where we were changing routes, combining routes, and delivering students to school after the start of the day.  Clearly, this is something we need to avoid.”

To address this issue, Laub said the district’s transportation team has spent the summer revising, combining and reducing routes in order to more efficiently transport students to and from school.

“These new routes will allow us to have “relief” drivers available for employee absences or when we need drivers for extra trips like athletics, clubs and activities,” he said. “As a result, you may see changes to our original routes and bus stops. These changes are necessary to avoid the issues we experienced at the end of last [school] year.”

Bus route information will be released for district parents and students to see on Wednesday, Aug. 16, Laub said.

“We cannot release routes any earlier, as we continue to have students registering for school,” he said. “Thank you for your understanding as we work to provide a safe and efficient method of transportation for your child[ren].” ∞