After 3 Weeks, Cambridge Public Schools Addresses Widespread Bus Delays

Embarrassed to be late again, Jill S. Linnell’s son rushed into class at Cambridgeport Elementary School 35 minutes after the start of first period on Tuesday.

Her son — who has been late to school every day this semester — is one of scores of Cambridge students who have been affected by bus delays this fall. The pattern has frustrated administrators, students, and parents, who reported delays of between five and 35 minutes.

On Tuesday, exactly three weeks into the school year, adjustments to certain bus routes finally took effect, alleviating some of the delays. Still, parents were frustrated by weeks of unpredictable and stressful mornings, back-and-forths with district officials, and a lack of official communication from the district.

The first official district-wide communication about the delays came Sept. 20 — more than two weeks after school started — when Mayor E. Denise Simmons and interim Superintendent David G. Murphy sent parents an email apologizing for the “inconvenience” and announcing that changes to routes were being made.

In a memo sent to the Cambridge School Committee, Murphy attributed the delays to multiple factors, including an earlier start to the school day and the fact that CPS is also responsible for transporting students to private and charter schools, which operate on a different schedule. He added that the district did not slot pick-up times earlier than 6:55am, in an effort to prevent students waiting in the dark or cold in the winter months.

Boston Public Schools have experienced similar issues, with only one in three school buses arriving on time for Boston’s first day of school.

Murphy said in a Wednesday interview that it took time to understand and implement solutions to the delays. He said district officials have drawn new routes, deployed additional buses, and adjusted which students are on certain bus routes.

“It takes the first three weeks to truly identify what are — not a couple of garbage trucks in the wrong place at the wrong time — and what are truly systemic routes that are not working,” Murphy said.

In the memo, Murphy wrote that the district will forgo a policy of matching students to the same morning and afternoon bus route and draw new routes. As a last resort, he added, the district may push pick-up times ten minutes earlier.

Still, families went weeks without official district-wide communication from the district about the delays. Some parents waited at bus stops for 30 minutes, while others hustled their children onto public transit, and still others were late to work in order to drive their kids to school.

Many individual parents communicated, sometimes daily, with Murphy, members of CPS’ transportation office, and even customer representatives from Eastern Bus Company, Cambridge’s bus vendor. Others turned to parent listservs and still others, like Jessica D. Goetz, established group chats.

Amber B. Fisher, whose children attend Rindge Avenue Upper Campus and Graham & Parks Elementary School, said that while she gave the district a two-week “grace period,” she expected change and communication to have come earlier.

“We didn’t get that message until the very last day of the third week of school, and then changes were implemented today, which is the second day of the fourth week of school,” she said. “I think that’s a long time for people to go without any resolution.”

Both Fisher and Linnell worried that the bussing and communication delays disproportionately impact families who could not drive their children to school, afford to be late to work, or who don’t use the bus tracking app.

“I can just see how easy it would be for kids to miss a day of school who would otherwise want to be there,” Linnell said. “I’m really just baffled that we have this bussing program in Cambridge to make the schools more equitable, and we’re not making the buses itself equitable.”

Jodi S. Ekelchik, who co-chairs the School Council at Putnam Ave. Upper School, said she is concerned that the bus delays will make it more difficult for students to meet attendance expectations — which the district has indicated they will strictly enforce.

“We got an email about really encouraging kids to get to school on time to start their day, and through no fault of any of the students, the buses have not been meeting that goal or allowing the students to meet that goal,” she said.

In a statement, CPS spokesperson Sujata Wycoff wrote that students will not be penalized for arriving after the start of the school day.

“While the majority of buses are arriving on time, we fully recognize how frustrating and disruptive these delays can be for all of our impacted elementary and upper school families and we are working diligently to resolve the issues,” Wycoff wrote.

After school on Tuesday, Linnell was informed the bus schedule would be adjusted, and that her son would need to arrive at the bus stop at 7:03 a.m. — nearly an hour earlier than usual.

“My son woke me up at 2:15 a.m. to tell me to drink my coffee so we wouldn’t miss it,” she wrote in an email.

Despite making the bus on time, he was still late to school.

Correction: September 26, 2024

A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that the bus delays were addressed after the fourth week of the school year. In fact, the delays were addressed after three weeks of school.

—Staff writer Darcy G Lin can be reached at darcy.lin@thecrimson.com.

—Staff writer Emily T. Schwartz can be reached at emily.schwartz@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @EmilySchwartz37