Wishful Thinking

With the current school year winding down, I have been musing my daughters progress through the year.  One is finishing their Senior Kindergarten year and the other, her Junior Kindergarten year.

During the 2010-2011 school year my eldest daughter rode a bus to school and evidently enjoyed it very much.  This year, as we have moved to a different town, both girls now walk to school.

Over the past year, when my older daughter has had a tiring day and we are walking home from school, she will ask why she can't take the bus to her new school.  I  always try to explain the logistics of our living in town and therefore are in the walk area for the school, while almost all of her friends live outside the town and get to ride the school bus.

Her only comfort right now, is that when she goes to High School, she will get to ride the bus to school.  Meanwhile ... I'm secretly wondering when she'll start asking for a car once she enters High School.

The joys of parenting!

Get your appointment booked!

I hope everyone is enjoying the beautiful spring weather.

It's hard to believe that for most of you, school will be finished for the year in just over a month.  I'm sure you're all busy with the end of year trips and other activities.

If you haven't yet booked your GoToMeeting appointment to upgrade your students and begin your route planning for the 2012-2013 school year, it's time to do so.  I encourage you, whether you want to wait until school is over or want your appointment in May, to reserve your time as we are booking up quickly right now.

As always, we are here to help you with any questions you have about using Bustops for your route planning.

Take care!

Office Closed for Good Friday

In observance of Good Friday our office will be closed on Friday, April 6th.

We will reopen at 8:00 am on Monday, April 9, 2012.

Happy Easter!

Planning 2012-2013 Routes

Here are some of the steps that may need to be done to your Bustops data once a roll over has been done in Bustops or an import of students with their next years grades from your student administration system is completed:

• reassign students who will move to a new building to stops for that school
• import or enter new kindergarteners
• adjust routes for new students and remove stops without students
• notify parents - through newspaper postings, letters or post cards
• print new route packages for drivers - routes with riders, driving directions, route maps

You may want to consider the timing of doing your upgrade.  If your kindergarten registration is in April you may want to wait to begin until after the new students are entered and the students grade rolled over in your student admin system, them import the info into BUSTOPS. 

Call for help with any of the steps as you need it or to discuss importing student data. Also, BUSTOPS can be used to create and customize all of the reports/posting information noted above.

Check to make sure Eligibility Coding/Placement Lines are setup for your SD if you have a lot of students who switch schools each year -- this can cut down on the work needing to be done each spring.

Time is quickly flying by - don't wait until the last minute to start planning.

Support Notice

Just to let everyone know, our office will be closed on Monday, February 20th, 2012 for President's Day.

If you have an urgent BUSTOPS support issue, please e-mail ystrange@bustops.com and someone will return your call.

Have a great long weekend!

Happy New Year!

Well, Happy New Year everyone!  I hope that 2012 will be a good year for everyone.

I wanted to remind everyone, if you are planning on doing any major changes to your routing for the 2012-2013 school year - closing buildings, opening buildings, moving to grade centers, moving from double to single routes or vice-versa, or just want to see if your routes are as efficient as they could be - now is the time to start doing scenarios... if you haven't already started in the fall.

Even if you aren't making major changes, if you want to get a jump start on getting your information updated for the upcoming school year, call the office and book a GoToMeeting appointment for the support staff to make a copy of your data and upgrade it.

If you're unsure if you should start planning now or wait for a bit, call us and we'll discuss your situation and help you decide how to proceed.

Enjoy the last half of January!

Holiday Office Closing

MicroAnalytics' offices will be closed from Thursday, December 22nd, 2011 at 4:00 pm and will reopen on Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012 at 8:30 am.  If you have any questions or concerns, please call 416-691-1222.  In case of emergency during the closing, please e-mail maryb@bustops.com.

The staff of MicroAnalytics, and my family and myself

wish you and your family 

A Happy Holiday Season!