RWPS Bus Issues

The transition to a new bus company hired by Red Wing Public Schools has hit some snags. Bob Jaszczak, Superintendent of Red Wing Public Schools, sent this out Wednesday night. 

Good evening Red Wing parents, 

Today is day five of the ongoing bus saga. Yesterday was again a day of significant struggle, but there were improvements today.

Bus arrivals at the schools were mostly on time this morning. 

Bus departures at the end of the day were much better at all of the schools.  

Staff have done a really good job of helping kids get on their buses to get home.     

While there is a long way to go, MTN was able to be more responsive in answering phone calls. Emails are not yet being answered with any consistency. This is a function of volume as much as anything.

I do not have an exact number, but there were dozens of individual issues that were resolved today. Many more remain, but there is evidence of progress.

Even though it has been a mess, drivers are becoming more familiar with routes. This will continue to improve with experience.

The route was established for Creekstone. That will run tomorrow.

There are many issues still to be fixed. 

Routes for Colvill students are not fully functional. Staff have been working to make other accommodations.

There are 15-20 students who attend Tower View who have not been routed. This should be resolved soon.

The BusRight app is not fully functional. At this point, it only includes the basic route information. There is a meeting tomorrow morning and this is one of the most important questions that needs to be answered. This is certainly one of the greatest frustrations for families.

Overall, routes need to be reviewed and refined. We are working on these up to and through the weekend. I do not know how long it will take to implement the changes, but we absolutely must resolve these.

There are still too many kids who are not being picked up. MTN is working to address this problem, but it cannot happen quickly enough.

Due to the sheer number of calls, MTN’s voicemail fills up and then people hear a message that the mailbox is not set up.

We understand how difficult this is for families and we are working diligently to get things ironed out. My intent is to provide another update soon.

Bob Jaszczak

Superintendent of Red Wing Public Schools  9-9-26 7:48 pm