Technology issues cause Butler Area schools to delay first day until Tuesday

Students at the Butler Area School District preparing to start classes Thursday now have a few more days left to their summer vacation.

Ongoing technology failures causing issues with transportation caused Superintendent Brian White to delay the start of school until Tuesday, Sept. 3, according to a letter sent to parents.

Software issues were first disclosed to parents Monday, after White sent out a letter apologizing in the delay of transportation details.

He said the issues include problems with transportation cards and students being assigned to routes and bus stops “that just don’t make sense.”

“We want to apologize for the delay in getting our transportation information to families this year,” Monday’s letter reads. “We are experiencing significant software issues with Versatranz (our transportation system) and Tyler (our student information system). As a result, we have been significantly delayed in getting information to families.

”In addition, some of the information that was previously sent was incorrect.”

White said his decision to delay the first day of school was to give time for bus drivers to perform dry runs of their routes to determine if there are any hazards to students.

“While the software issues have been significant, I also believe there are things that we could have done as school district to put ourselves in a better position to respond and operate,” he wrote. “As I mentioned in my previous email, I intend to review our operations and make changes for the future.”

White said officials will work to revise the school calendar in coming days.