CLAY COUNTY, Fla. – As the second week of the school year begins, many Clay County parents are hoping for fewer transportation troubles after a rocky start.
The first week back was marked by bus delays and issues with Chipmunk, the district’s new real-time bus tracking app.
For Kevin Collison and his family, the problems started on day one.
“What we experienced was a lot of frustration on day one,” Collison said.
He said the Chipmunk app wasn’t functioning due to a server outage, leaving parents without a way to track their children’s buses.
“You can’t rely on the app,” he said. “We decided to just take the kids to school, not use the bus on that first day. We thought maybe they’ll get the kinks worked out and they’ll get home.”
But the afternoon brought more complications.
“Our high schooler was an hour late getting home,” Collison said. “And after 90 minutes of waiting at the junior high, we went to pick up our what would have been our first-time bus rider. There were about a hundred kids in the gymnasium waiting. Even the school officials had no idea what buses were coming or when.”
Collison said staff told parents to pick up their children if possible, as they had no timeline for bus arrivals.
In response to the concerns, the Clay County School District issued a statement:
“We understand that the current disruptions with the Chipmunk app have been frustrating for our families. Please know that this isn’t an issue unique to us in Clay, as another local school district using the same app is also experiencing challenges.
Our Transportation Department is actively working with the vendor to fix the problem. As part of those efforts, the Bus Planner system underwent a hard reset by the vendor. We will continue to work with the vendor until the issue is resolved.
We understand how stressful these situations can be for our families and thank them for their continued patience and understanding as we navigate this together.”
