Novi Times

Walled Lake Consolidated Schools issued the following announcement on Nov 10.

School districts across the country continue to face a critical shortage of transportation staff and the same is true in WLCSD. After weeks of diligently reorganizing routes and redeploying staff, our partners at Dean Transportation informed us of the unfortunate reality that we would need to cancel several bus routes this week, November 8-12. While we deeply regret the imposition this creates for our families, we acknowledge these cancellations were necessary to safely provide transportation services to as many of our WLCSD families as possible. 

Due to the nationwide shortage of workers, these bus route cancellations will unfortunately be with us for the next few weeks. Out of fairness to the families already impacted by this week’s cancellations, we will be cancelling different routes each week throughout the District to help share the burden this unfortunate situation creates.

Starting next week, November 15-19, the following buses/routes will be cancelled:

• Bus 129 - St. Patrick to Walnut Creek MS Shuttle, Walnut Creek MS, Oakley Park EL
• Bus 134 - WL Northern HS, Clifford Smart MS, Dublin EL
• Bus 137 - WL Northern HS, Clifford Smart MS, Loon Lake EL
• Bus 147 - St. William to Geisler MS Shuttle, Geisler MS, Hickory Woods EL
• Bus 153 - WL Central HS, Walnut Creek MS, Meadowbrook EL
• Bus 157 - WL Northern HS, Clifford Smart MS, Commerce El
• Bus 158 - WL Western HS, Geisler MS, Guest El
• Bus 162 - WL Western HS, Sarah Banks MS, Walled Lake EL
• Bus 164 - WL Central HS, Geisler MS, Glengary EL
• Bus 170 - WL Northern HS, Clifford Smart MS, Keith EL

Please note, ALL students who have specialized transportation plans that are contained in an IEP will NOT see a disruption in service.

For those families impacted by these temporary cancellations who need childcare assistance, please contact our fee based Prime Time Care office at 248-956-5110 for more information on availability.

No one is pleased with the current situation we find ourselves in and rest assured, the District and Dean Transportation are working diligently to address our transportation needs as quickly and as safely as possible. If you, or anyone in your family would be interested in joining our transportation team, please visit the Dean Transportation careers webpage.

We know the impact these bus/route changes have on families may be significant and it is our hope that by working together we can lessen the load on any one group of families at a given time. 

Please know that this decision really comes as a last resort while we work with our Dean Transportation partners to combat the bus driver shortage we are currently experiencing. For more questions, please contact the Walled Lake Schools Transportation Department at 248-956-3090 or visit the transportation webpage on the District’s website. 

We truly appreciate your continued support and grace as we navigate these unprecedented staffing challenges together. We will do everything in our power to limit the impact of any potential transportation changes moving forward.

Original source can be found here.