LOTS OF MOVING PARTS
Pittsburgh Public Schools’ transportation plan faces long road to approval
Pittsburgh Public Schools officials say they have a plan in place that will allow them to provide transportation to all students who need it by the first day of class, but it will depend on a series of proposals and agreements being approved by multiple voting bodies over the next two weeks.
And if any part of the plan does not move forward, thousands of students may be left without a ride on the first day of school.
The transportation issues stem from a bus driver shortage that was severely exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The district’s plan includes delaying the first day of school, tiering school start and end times to maximize use of buses, placing more students on Port Authority buses and increasing walk zones around schools.
“This is the most efficient and effective way to get all of the students we can to school five days a week,” Megan Patton, the district’s director of pupil transportation, said Friday during an interview at the A-1 Transit school bus garage in Lawrenceville.
All of those proposals, however, are out of district administration’s control.
The first step in the plan could come Wednesday night during a special legislative session of the city school board when members will vote on moving back the first day of school by two weeks, from Aug. 25 to Sept. 8.
District administrators said the move would give school bus companies time to bring on about 100 new bus drivers who could transport students in the city. Parents have rallied against pushing back the start date, arguing that the district should have addressed the transportation issues sooner and fearing that there could be further delays to schools