NORMAL — Calling the Unit 5 school transportation system a “work in progress,” Superintendent Gary Niehaus announced that changes will be made in communication and complaint handling.

Following a series of complaints from incidents on the Normal-based school district buses in recent weeks, Unit 5 transportation staff, operations and Niehaus have met numerous times and are ironing out a plan to address the issues, he told the school board Wednesday.

Remedies have to be found and issues addressed “concerning inexcusable, unacceptable acts of negligence,”  he said.

Currently the concerns and complaints of parents are directed to the transportation offices, Niehaus told the school board. Sometimes, they have not been forwarded to the correct place, Niehaus said.

A help desk will be set up at the transportation office on a temporary basis to direct calls to the right place, Niehaus said. Likely after Thanksgiving weekend, the help desk will be moved to the district office. Also, complaint and concern forms will be tracked so problems can be followed through, and ongoing issues addressed, he said.

Last week a bus monitor on a Carlock route was suspended after allegedly picking a 5-year-old boy up by his feet and dropping him head-first. The bus monitor was charged with misdemeanor battery. The mother said she was hung up on when she called the transportation department.

A 4-year-old boy, who fell asleep on the way to Oakdale Elementary School on Monday, was left on the bus at the bus yard after the bus driver and monitor left it after their route. Both the bus driver and the monitor were suspended.

Parents in those cases had expressed satisfaction that their voice was heard once it was addressed at the Unit 5 administrative level. Niehaus said the he believed “due diligence” in those situations was taken by both  Director of Operations Joe Adleman and the Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Nate Cunningham.