Warren Bus Routes Running Smoothly, Superintendent Reports

The Warren Township schools district has addressed parents' concerns about this school year's initial bus stops and routes, and routes are running smoothly, Schools Superintendent Tami Crader reported late this week.

"I am especially appreciative of parents' patience and understanding," Crader said in an email on Thursday.

The superintendent also said then that school officials had timed afternoon runs and compared them to the estimated times — "and they are in actuality shorter."

Crader said the schools will time morning runs in the near future. 

The superintendent and transportation coordinator had called upon parents at the beginning of the school year to report any changed school bus stops or routes they believed might be unsafe, or with any other concerns. 

"There were definitely parent requests that we simply could not accommodate because of safety or access issues — but not because we weren't willing to look at them," Crader said this week.

This year, the school district — which opened township schools on Sept. 9 — has both a new transportation coordinator and a new transportation software program, Crader said in an earlier communication to parents.

The school district had been looking to maximize the efficiency and safety of transportation routes, resulting an unusually high number of changes made to bus stops for Warren Township schools' students, Crader said the first week of school.

Parents were asked then —and still are being asked — to report and parents bu stops deemed as unsafe.

The transportation coordinator "has been working day and night to finalize routes and stops," Crader said in an email earlier in the school year.