City School Board to Hold Special Meeting Tonight to Discuss Transportation Issues
A new app, two new schools, and a shortage of drivers has resulted in inconsistent and delayed transportation for students.
By Adele Uphaus
MANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT
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The Fredericksburg School Board will hold a special meeting Wednesday evening to discuss the transportation issues that have plagued the start of the 2025-26 school year.
The situation, which is similar to what transpired in Stafford County Public Schools last year, involves a new routing program and bus tracking app and a shortage of bus drivers, resulting in students being picked up late or not at all in the morning and dropped off after 5 p.m. in the evening.
In communication with the school division that has been shared with the Advance, parents described being unable to reach anyone in transportation or in the school buildings to determine where their child’s bus was. They described the app showing their child’s bus had arrived when it had not; their child arriving at school half an hour late and missing breakfast due to a late bus; and children coming off buses in tears after rides of over 1.5 hours.
Families also expressed concern about long hours for bus drivers and unclear and inconsistent notification from the school division about bus schedules and routes in the week and a half since school started on August 19.
On Monday evening, superintendent Marci Catlett sent a message to the school community expressing “our sincere apology for the stress and frustration” caused by transportation.
“What we can promise is this: we are working every day to improve transportation services,” Catlett wrote. “We are listening, we are learning, and we will get this right.”
In an email response sent Tuesday morning to questions posed by the Advance on Monday morning, communications supervisor Katie Hornung summarized the factors that have converged to create the transportation problems:
Transitioning to a new routing program and bus tracking app, moving from paper and pencil routing.
Opening a new elementary school and relocating Walker-Grant Middle School.
Onboarding new transportation leadership while also working to fill vacancies.
Training drivers on new technology and updating routes in a short timeframe.
She said that “initial reports” show that multiple bus routes have extended past 5 p.m., and that schools have been “asked to remain staffed until all buses have cleared, and children have been picked up.”
Hornung said the division purchased the Tyler routing program in use this year—which includes the MyRide K-12 app—during the 2023-24 school year, but it was “only piloted with a small group of employee’s children and was never fully launched.”
The division’s senior transportation supervisor of several years, Susan Mannino, resigned in May of 2025. A new transportation supervisor, Jaral Jones, was hired effective July 1, according to the personnel packet approved by the School Board at its July 7 meeting.
Jones “joined FCPS from Stafford County Public Schools, where he had experience with My Ride K-12,” Hornung wrote. “Shortly thereafter, FCPS moved forward with full implementation of Traversa (the routing program) and My Ride K-12.”
According to the personnel packet approved by the School Board at the August meeting, routing coordinator Francine Boxley resigned effective July 23, and two bus drivers and a bus assistant resigned later in July.
On August 11, Hornung wrote, a new routing specialist, Sandy Zimmerman, started in her job and began building bus routes.
“We also considered common intersections near families’ homes and followed statewide guidelines,” Hornung wrote.
Bus drivers began training with the new app on August 11, which was the first contracted day of the 2025-26 school year. Training occurred between August 11 and August 15 and included “use of the app, reviewing routes, and compliance requirements.”
“Given the addition of a third elementary school and relocation of the middle school, this was a complex transition,” Hornung wrote. “Currently, FCPS is expanding its training support by using Vector, an online training platform that will help standardize and strengthen bus driver preparation ongoing. We will continue to refine our training procedures and processes.”
Hornung said there are three full-time staff in the transportation office, and that the division is looking to hire bus monitors and assistants, as well as “morning and afternoon support staff to help supervise students who will be impacted by earlier and later bus routes.”
A shortage of bus drivers is also exacerbating the situation. Human resources director Sue Keffer said in an email to the Advance that the division “recently” lost three drivers. All three involved “different circumstances, not all resignations,” she said.
Keffer said the division has had to use substitute bus drivers “almost daily.” She said there are currently only two substitute bus drivers with commercial drivers licenses on staff.
She said there are a total of 33 commercially-licensed drivers on staff and that the division is looking to hire seven more.
“We had 2 driver interviews today but don't know the results of the offers yet,” Keffer said.
Bus drivers start at a salary of $21.46.
The division posted an update on Wednesday evening stating that “most buses arrived on time this morning,” that “loaner buses” have been secured to help handle demand, and that route refinements are underway.
The special meeting begins at 6 p.m. this evening and will include public comment.
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