ELLICOTT CITY, Md. — Howard County is starting the new school year off smoothly, at least when it comes to student transportation.
That wasn't the case in 2023.
Mass school bus shortages in the county left students stranded scrambling for an alternative just to get to class.
Some issues have had long lasting impacts that remain today.
MORE: Howard County school leaders address bus crisis, but lost routes won't be restored until fall 2025
A 100+ page audit on what went wrong was released Thursday.
It found three root causes: unfilled staff positions; lack of adherence to deadlines; and overconfidence.
Despite approving 3 to 4 new positions to roll-out new class start times, the school system failed to fill the vacancies in a timely manner.
At the time the district only had one full-time bus router and coordinator for transportation, planning, and technology.
The audit concluded there should've been at least six bus routers.
A lack of action on self imposed deadlines contributed to the school system leaving the jobs unfilled, the audit noted.
"This included the deadline for hiring OST staff, making changes to the demarcation plan and non transportation zones weeks before Day One 2023, and failing to conclude contractor mediation until August 2023," auditors wrote.
As for transitioning to a new bus company the audit found school officials "had almost no prior experience in on-boarding a new transportation contractor."
Zum, the bus contractor hired last school year reportedly "overstated their abilities" to accommodate high number of students needing transportation.
Howard County and Zum agreed to a 5-year contract in June 2023, vowing then to provide 250 new buses.
"Schools using only Zum experienced more problems, with 85% of school administrators reporting far more problems than usual, compared to 38% of school administrators using only other contractors," the audit found.
Auditors suggested Zum's problems expanded into April and May of last school year, well beyond the first week of classes.
“Overpromised and underdelivered," is how auditors described feedback they received from school staffers.
Zum responded, disagreeing with the audit's findings.
"We strongly disagree with the statements in the student transportation audit," Zum said in a statement. "Last year’s day 1 challenges were analyzed and discussed between Zum and HCPSS. These were factored into the preparation for this year's start of school, resulting in 100% route coverage, an average of 97% on-time performance, and a consistent 4.9 out of 5 star rating based on 37,000 reviews from HCPSS families of our parent app."
For his part Howard County Schools Superintendent Bill Barnes defended Zum, saying he's pleased with their progress.
"I have had very productive and positive conversations with Zum leadership, and I commend the efforts of their staff and drivers to improve and play a significant role in the success in this year’s student transportation efforts," said Barnes. "The last time our student transportation services operated this effectively was prior to the COVID pandemic."
Barnes says Zum trained over 150 new school bus drivers to help overcome staffing shortages, while upgrading technology so families can remain up to date on routes.
To read the full audit, click here.
