Recent storm highlights need to improve communication with buses

February 4, 2023 | By Lisa Scagliotti

Winter weather was particularly challenging recently when snowstorms led to one snow day at the start of the week and contributed to multiple mishaps with buses headed home later in the week.

In an interview with Waterbury Roundabout and The Valley Reporter on Jan. 27, Harwood Superintendent Mike Leichliter said the timing of the storm that strengthened midday on Thursday, Jan. 26, happened too late to initiate an early release which needs about a two-hour window. 

Later, “a very, quick harried afternoon” unfolded as a total of three buses went off snowy roads: one each from Fayston and Warren elementary schools; a bus coming from Brookside Primary School slid off Route 100 between Crossett Brook Middle School and Harwood Union High School. Multiple vehicle slide-offs led to Route 100 being closed temporarily which meant detours for other buses via Route 100B. 

Two of the affected buses had their tire chains deployed, Leichliter said, noting that the chains malfunctioned on the Warren bus and were not in place. 

No one was injured in any of the incidents, Leichliter said, stressing that students were transferred as quickly as possible to other buses to get to their destinations. An afternoon communication blast via phone and email alerted parents to the weather-related delays. 

For the new superintendent though, the situation highlighted a need to improve the district’s system of communicating and managing unexpected circumstances pertaining to bus transportation. Challenges during the Thursday storm included spotty cell phone service along some of the routes and short-staffing at First Student which left the bus barn office at Harwood Union High School empty. “All of our people from First Student were driving,” he said. 

Going forward, Leichliter said he hopes to set up a system to activate a “command center” in such situations that can rely on radio and phone communications. And he said he would investigate additional hyper-local weather forecasts to consult in addition to the National Weather Service reports from Burlington. “A forecast coming out of Burlington, or Montpelier doesn't necessarily say what our conditions are like in the valley.”

Leichliter said most messages from families were understanding and grateful for keeping students safe. “I had far more complaints about canceling on Monday [Jan. 23] than I did not canceling yesterday,” he said.  “The challenge with yesterday is it started and then stopped earlier than anticipated and then came back with a vengeance.”