ST. LOUIS — On Tuesday, Saint Louis Public Schools is rolling out a new plan to include more students in school bus routes in the midst of major transportation troubles.
5 On Your Side has been tracking the district's transportation troubles for weeks now.
Saint Louis Public Schools has been operating under an emergency transportation plan for several weeks. The district enacted the emergency plan after Missouri Central, the district's main transportation vendor, canceled its district contract over the summer.
SLPS has been scrambling since then to get students to school using limited school buses, and asking students to use Metro Bus, MetroLink and rideshare services to get to school campuses.
Our newsroom has learned, parents received a letter from Acting Superintendent Millicent Borishade on Saturday, Aug. 31. Borishade was placed in the position after Superintendent Keisha Scarlett was placed on a temporary leave of absence in late July.
Saturday’s letter to parents doesn't go into much detail on how, but does say school bus routes are being tweaked.
The letter said that district officials worked over the holiday weekend to reroute SLPS bus routes.
Our 5 On Your Side newsroom dug deeper into district documents to find out what's planned to change effective Tuesday morning.
St. Louis Public Schools says nearly 1,000 additional students will be assigned to school bus routes starting Sept. 3.
Under this revised plan, some students will either ride the bus to school and take a ride service home, or vice versa.
Parents, if your kids use either method of transportation you should've gotten a new letter in the mail confirming their new routes. If your student utilizes both SLPS school bus transportation and ride services, you should have received two transportation notifications, according to information posted for parents on the district site.
If you're still having problems getting your children to and from school, you're asked to call the SLPS Transportation Dept. at- 314-633-5107 or reach out via email at slpstrans@slps.org.
Parents, you can also call your kids' schools directly.
For weeks, parents have been concerned that their students wouldn't be picked up for class in St. Louis Public Schools. 5 on Your Side has been following the developing situation closely and speaking with families who've been impacted by the lack of transportation provision. Even the start of the second week, some families still didn't have answers.
During the first week of school for SLPS students, 5 On Your Side reported several students weren't given transportation and parents weren't given any answers why.
This is a developing story. Our newsroom will update it as more information becomes available.