BELLEVUE, Neb. (KMTV) — A new app that allows OPS parents to track their kids bus routes on the new Zum buses but one special education parent feels families like hers are being left out of knowing where their bus is.
- 2,000 special education students take the OPS fleet of buses to school.
- OPS's contracted bus service Zum transports 13,000 students and gives families access to a new technology.
- Special education families are told to call transportation hotline with questions or concerns.
- OPS has hired more people in the call center to address long wait times.
- OPS says it is revisiting a similar technology to Zum for special education families.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
"7:01, 7:01 yes, 14 minutes," Kellen Birchfield asked his mom Noelle.
Keeping an eye on the clock, Kellen was eager for his first day of sophomore year at Bryan High School.
He's been riding the OPS buses since he was three and this year knows his bus should arrive at 7:15 a.m.
"He's very big on time, when things arrive," Birchfield said.
That's why Kellen's mom Noelle Birchfield was excited to hear about Zum's app for families riding those buses, until she learned her son who gets a ride from the OPS fleet of buses wouldn't get that resource.
"Accessibility to communication would be wonderful because we want to be able to problem solve like all the other students," Noelle said.
This year in Omaha Public Schools about 13,000 regular education students are riding buses provided through Zum and families have access to the new app.
2,000 special education students ride the OPS fleet, the district told reporter Molly Hudson it provides transportation for special education students like Kellen if it is noted in their individual education program (IEP). But Noelle says there is no way to track their bus. Instead Noelle says they are told to call transportation with questions or concerns.
"I was disappointed because given emergency, like the weather that we had in April, we waited over an hour to find out where he was," Noelle said.
I asked Trevis Sallis, executive director of student transportation for OPS, how those long wait times are being addressed.
"As the year starts we've hired more people in our call center to make sure that parents can get through a lot quicker than they did even last year," Sallis said.
As for the app, Sallis says implementing an app for these families was interrupted last year because of the driver shortage.
But this year, they are in a better place.
"We will start reevaluating that and try to get those parents the same type of communication," Sallis said.
For now families like Kellen's will continue to wait until the bus pulls up out front.
