After partnering with HopSkipDrive for numerous years, Rocky Mountain Prep Creekside in Denver, Colorado, decided to expand their use of HopSkipDrive’s innovative transportation solution in 2021. The school’s Director of Operations, Jordan Simpson, sets up HopSkipDrive rides for students. In addition to finding the HopSkipDrive platform easy to use, Simpson says the real-time ride visibility has been reassuring for families. She also views HopSkipDrive as a key part of her initiative to raise attendance.
The school has only two buses at its disposal, so spots on each bus must be assigned to specific students. Some families in the Rocky Mountain Prep Creekside community may live 15 minutes or more away. Because their location sometimes doesn’t fit with either of the two bus routes, students in these families can end up with no assigned spot on a bus.
That’s where HopSkipDrive comes in. Working with Rocky Mountain Prep Creekside, HopSkipDrive has been able to help families like this get their children to school when they otherwise may have been left with no transportation option at all.
In one instance, a parent who had recently given birth needed help getting her other child to school. Creekside was able to offer HopSkipDrive as a solution to this parent, who found it incredibly helpful.
Increasing attendance has been a priority this year for Creekside, with Simpson leading the charge. Right after students arrive at school each day, the school calls everyone who is absent to check in on why a student is absent and if they might need help. If the problem is transportation, HopSkipDrive is offered as a solution.
Last year, attendance at Creekside was at 96%. The school is working on improving attendance as one of its “Big Five” goals for the year, with HopSkipDrive playing an important role in helping them reach that goal. The use of this system — paired with a variety of other attendance initiatives — has helped year-to-date attendance to reach 97%!
Simpson says, “HopSkipDrive allows staff members to remain in school working with students, and students can still be transported safely.”
While parents may come forward proactively and let the school know that transportation is a challenge — especially parents who have been helped by HopSkipDrive before — teachers are also on the lookout for attendance issues. They try to anticipate transportation issues for students, and they come to Simpson to coordinate HopSkipDrive rides when they see a need.
Safety is always a priority when it comes to school transportation, and HopSkipDrive’s safety standards and procedures can help students, as well as the school. “In one case, we had a student last year who was very nervous around adults he didn’t know,” explains Simpson. “He found HopSkipDrive’s student pickup authentication system (a code word and birth date) deeply reassuring. In addition, we really like that families can track the rides and see who is coming to pick them up.”
In addition to experiencing an increase in attendance, the staff and students at Rocky Mountain Prep Creekside have benefitted in numerous ways from partnering with HopSkipDrive.
We look forward to continuing to work with Creekside — and other schools across the country — to offer innovative solutions to school transportation problems so every student has access to the education they deserve.
