The vote was unanimous. All board members decided to end one of its contracts with the Student Transportation of America . This began after Action News Jax investigation uncovered several problems with STA.From crowded buses to late pick ups and drop offs -- the investigative team uncovered concerns parents had. One parent at Tuesday’s meeting brought up issues he still has at his children’s school -- waiting long hours for his son to get home.
“Sometimes he has his bus that’s supposed to show up at 4:30. I’ll be there at six o’clock at night,” concerned parent Brian Covey said.STA transports about 75 percent of the students in Duval County, but now, that will change. “I just need someone to take full accountability of the issue, because something has to be done,” Shinika Hunt, a mother of a student who takes the bus said.
DCPS is hoping to fix the problem. School Board member Darryl Willie had originally put this item on the agenda.“We got a lot of emails and I really wanted the public to see our due diligence moving forward,” Willie said. Tuesday’s unanimous vote solidifies the transfer of two zones STA had to Durham School Services. That means 220 bus routes in the Arlington and Mayport area will now be serviced by Durham, impacting thousands of students. Durham will add about 10 additional bus routes when they take over that area.‘I just think that there’s efficiencies that should be looked at a district level versus before they start hiring out content tracks on their existing routes,” Covey said.