Provided by Boston Public Schools

Update on transportation service

More than 650 school buses are on the road. The bus drivers' union and Transdev, the service provider, have demonstrated clear progress toward delivering on-time, reliable service since the unacceptable interruption two weeks ago. BPS is continuing to monitor the situation closely.

Although we strive for on-time service every day, families may experience some delays during the first few days of school as students and parents get used to the new routes and stops. Parents can check the status of their school bus by calling our Transportation Hotline at (617) 635-9520 or by checking the location online at schoolbus.bostonpublicschools.org.

BPS extended transportation service on Wednesday, September 10 to families who live within the "walk zone" of a school but who had been receiving transportation in the past. In prior years BPS used outdated mapping software to estimate the distance between a household and a school, which resulted in about 1,075 families receiving yellow bus service even though they actually lived within an elementary school's one-mile walk zone (and 1.5 miles for middle school grades). Now that this year's school bus routes are complete, BPS is offering optional seats and stops for these students on existing bus routes in the 2014-15 school year. Families will receive information about these additional services in the next several days with the extended service beginning September 10.

More than 17,000 BPS students will ride the MBTA to school this year, which includes an additional 2,100 8th grade students in BPS, charter, private and parochial students on the T. The MBTA will be free for students on Thursday so they can get to school and pick up their free seven-day T passes. Parents with questions can call (617) 635-MBTA (6282).

BPS is offering these additional back-to-school tips for families:

· Talk to your principal or headmaster about joining the School Parent Council or School Site Council.

· Help us develop a tool for measuring school quality. This will replace the MCAS Tiers we use for our Home-Based school choice system and will look beyond test scores alone to help define quality. Visit bostonschoolquality.org to learn more.

· If you haven't already, create your free Student Information System account at http://sis.mybps.org. Your school secretary can help you set it up. This system lets parents see your student's attendance and grade information. You can also connect with your child's teachers and see classroom assignments.

· Join our nationally-recognized Parent University, which offers free classes and workshops to help parents engage with your child's education. Learn more at bpsfamilies.org.

· Read the 2014-15 Guide to the Boston Public Schools, then fill out and return the forms inside.

· Stay informed by signing up for BPS This Week at bostonpublicschools.org/newsletters.

· Follow BPS on Facebook and Twitter @bostonschools. This is where we post information about school events, student awards, even snow cancellations! You can also check out the annual school calendar and report card schedule on our website at bostonpublicschools.org.

MCAS/PARCC

Later this month BPS will recommend to the School Committee that instead of using MCAS tests to measure student progress, we should use the PARCC assessment (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers) this year instead. Many students participated in a trial run of PARCC in the spring. We believe that PARCC is a better tool for measuring academic progress and the state appears to be headed in this direction. You can learn more at bostonpublicschools.org/parcc.

Also this year, BPS will continue to offer universal free meals for every student.