Sixty Milton Public Schools students still lacked bus assignments as of Tuesday, Sept. 8, and some children already riding buses have been getting home up to 45 minutes late.

Interim Superintendent John Phelan told the School Committee at its Sept. 2 meeting that the delays are an unintended consequence of the district's switch to larger buses and new drivers this school year. The bigger vehicles have longer frames and bigger hoods, and one driver was swapped off a route early in the year.

The changes grew out of parent complaints. Milton families pushed back last year over a waitlist that left middle and high school students without bus seats. In response, the district bought a new bus for roughly $100,000 during last year's budget season, bringing the fleet to 11. It also worked with its provider, First School, to secure higher-capacity buses that can carry about 10 to 12 more students each.

Phelan said the district believed the combination of an extra bus and larger vehicles would create enough capacity for every student who applied for transportation, the Milton Times reported. But the larger buses and unfamiliar routes for new drivers produced delays instead.

"… When you have a third grader and they're getting home 45 minutes late, it's nothing but a worry," Phelan said at the Sept. 2 meeting. "We acknowledge that and so we're trying to remedy that as fast as we can."

Phelan acknowledged the district wished it could share only good news about the fleet expansion but said there was "a reality out there that we want to make sure we acknowledge."

Of the 60 students on the waitlist, 33 are middle and high schoolers who registered after the busing deadline or are new to the district. Elementary buses have room. Those younger students are being placed as they enroll, Phelan said.

He expects the secondary waitlist to shrink the same way it did last year, when seats opened as students joined after-school sports or got their driver's licenses. The district anticipates absorbing the 33 middle and high school students by early October.

The district's transportation department said in an email the week of Sept. 8 that it remains in ongoing talks with First School to resolve the delays.