Unfortunately, I am reaching out to inform you that our transportation provider, Johannes Bus Services, has just notified us that due to the driver shortage, they could not guarantee they could meet the service requirements for our district. In addition, despite numerous efforts they had not completed the routes at least 10 days prior to the school year as is required per our agreement. We are aware of other schools in the 14 district consortium that have been dealing with a multitude of issues that compromise the safety and quality of services.
As a result, we have made the difficult decision to terminate the agreement with Johannes and have made arrangements to provide transportation services through another carrier. We have worked to reconfigure our bus routes and will be running 3 instead of 4 routes. This will result in the average route time of about 50-55 minutes. While the route times on the buses will be extended some from previous years, there is adequate seating to accommodate the adjustment. The new bus company is currently reviewing the route adjustments to determine if further changes are warranted.
While we hope to be able to up and running with all three routes by our first day of school on Wednesday, at this time, there are no guarantees. We will follow up on Monday with both the new routes and updates regarding the ability to begin services on Wednesday.
If you did not sign up to provide your own transportation and wish to do so, please use the following link to indicate your desire to do so.
https://forms.gle/EFeKooBpjy1HQKW68
The safety of your children is our number one priority and we are doing everything we can to get the details worked out as soon as possible.
If there are any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at (815) 223-2933 or at rlinnig@dimmick175.com.
We appreciate your patience and understanding as well as your continued support!