August 30, 2026
For Immediate Release
CONTACT:
Office of Communications
301-952-6001
communications@pgcps.org
UPPER MARLBORO, MD — Prince George’s County Public Schools (PGCPS) announced today that the original backlog of approximately 10,000 students awaiting school bus assignments has been fully resolved following an intensive weekend effort by transportation staff and the district’s transportation surge team.
Every student included in the original routing backlog has now been assigned a bus route.
“This weekend, our team had one clear charge: eliminate the backlog and get our students assigned to buses,” said Superintendent Dr. Shawn Joseph. “Our employees worked with tremendous urgency to accomplish that goal. I am grateful for their commitment to our students and families. Now, our responsibility is to stabilize the system, strengthen customer service, and address the underlying operational issues that contributed to the challenges we experienced during the opening of school.”
While the original backlog has been eliminated, PGCPS will maintain its 27-member transportation surge team throughout the opening-of-school period. As new students enroll, families move, addresses change and other routine transportation requests are received, students may continue to require new or adjusted bus assignments as part of the normal routing process. The surge team will remain in place to ensure those requests are addressed with expedience.
With the original backlog cleared, the district is also entering its route optimization phase, which is a normal part of the opening weeks of school. Over the next several weeks, transportation staff will continue reviewing routes to address routing errors, unusually long ride times, stop locations and opportunities to improve overall efficiency and reliability.
“Our priority this weekend was ensuring every student in the original backlog received a route,” said Chief Operating Officer Dr. Charoscar Coleman. “Clearing that backlog represents important progress, but our work is not finished. We will continue deploying additional personnel and monitoring transportation operations closely as we stabilize routes and respond to the normal changes that occur during the opening of school.”
Leadership personnel across all 12 PGCPS bus lots reported for duty Sunday afternoon to process and distribute updated run sheets. Drivers will begin navigating the newly updated routes Monday morning, August 31.
Updated transportation assignments and adjusted pickup times are available to families through the Chipmunk application. Assignments will also be accessible through the ParentVUE portal following system synchronization. Families are encouraged to review these platforms before Monday morning for the most current transportation information.
PGCPS will also host a Telephone Town Hall for families on Wednesday, September 2, at 6 p.m. District leaders will provide an update on transportation operations, discuss the ongoing action plan and respond to questions from families.
As PGCPS moves from immediate response to longer-term improvement, the district will use lessons from the opening of school to address longstanding operational and customer service challenges within transportation.
“We will use this moment of setback to address longstanding issues within the Transportation Department, including customer service,” Joseph said. “Beginning Monday, we will begin working to automate our telephone systems so that when a parent calls, a response is provided promptly and we can better monitor how issues are being resolved. Our Ombudsman will lead this initiative. It represents phase one of a broader customer service improvement effort that is needed throughout our school district.”
The new system will be designed to strengthen accountability for family inquiries by improving the district’s ability to track calls, monitor response times, identify recurring concerns and ensure issues are routed to the appropriate staff for resolution.
The customer service initiative will complement the district’s broader work to strengthen transportation operations, including routing capacity, internal communication, operational accountability and systems for identifying and escalating problems before they affect families.
PGCPS is also announcing a transition in the leadership of the Transportation Department.
Keba Baldwin is stepping down from his role as Director of Transportation. The district thanks Mr. Baldwin for his service and contributions to PGCPS and its transportation operations. He will work with district leadership to support an orderly transition.
Dr. Mark Fossett, a former Chief Operating Officer for PGCPS, will serve as Acting Director of Transportation and lead a new transportation transition team.
Dr. Fossett and the transition team will provide experienced leadership and additional operational capacity as the district continues stabilizing transportation services, strengthening customer service and addressing critical vacancies within the department. The transition structure will remain in place as PGCPS works to permanently fill critical transportation vacancies during this semester.
“This is about more than responding to the challenges of one week,” said Superintendent Joseph. “It is about building the systems, capacity and culture necessary to provide families with the reliable service they deserve. We resolved the immediate backlog. Now we must use what we have learned to build a stronger transportation operation for the future.”
PGCPS will continue providing families and the Board of Education with updates as transportation operations stabilize throughout the opening of the school year.
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