Though a problem with a bus routing software that’s new to the district has caused “significant transportation challenges,” the superintendent of schools said last week, it didn’t take away from the positive energy and learning that students experienced at the start of the school year.
“Our students are engaged, our teachers are energized,” Dr. Bryan Luizzi told members of the Board of Education during their regular meeting, held Sept. 2 in the Wagner Room at New Canaan High School.
First day of school, Aug. 27, 2025. Photo courtesy of New Canaan Public Schools
He continued: “It’s really wonderful and we’ve been out and about throughout the week in the buildings to see that firsthand. That being said, though, I also want to acknowledge that we’ve had some significant transportation challenges this past week. As you are aware, we’ve transitioned into a new software system for our transportation … We transitioned to a new system. And in that transition we’ve certainly had some challenges around the routes, the existing routes and otherwise. We are working around-the-clock to resolve those issues.”
Luizzi said that administrators haven’t yet had a chance to review just what happened with the introduction of Traversa software, “why the data didn’t transfer the way that we anticipated that it would and should.”
“We’re still in the triage mode of figuring out and fixing any issues that come to our attention,” he said. “And as soon as we work our way through that and get to a good spot, then we’ll be able to look back a bit and find out what happened with the implementation.”
District officials have been speaking with Tyler Technologies, which owns the Traversa program that is itself “an industry standard,” Luizzi said.
First day of school, Aug. 27, 2025. Photo courtesy of New Canaan Public Schools
“It is something that is used throughout Connecticut, throughout the country,” he said. “It is what DATTCO [bus company] primarily uses and supports. And the system that we had been using was becoming antiquated and didn’t have the features and the interoperability that other systems required—things like our school dismissal manager and PowerSchool, and other things that we’re using. So there was a need to make a transition. We moved into Traversa and again, we’ll be doing a more thorough review once we get to a place where we’re ready to do that. But for the time being, just wanted the Board and the community to know that we are marshaling all the resources possible to resolve all of these issues. Of course, prioritizing safety for every child first, looking at our youngest kids and our elementary students, and then certainly looking at the timing issues with the buses and the runs.”
He thanked the New Canaan Public Schools community for its patience, saying, “We recognize the challenges that it causes and we are doing everything we can to get back to the level of service that the communities come to expect from us, and rightfully so, because that’s what they deserve.”
First day of school, Aug. 27, 2025. Photo courtesy of New Canaan Public Schools
During the public comment period at the end of the meeting, one parent did raise concerns regarding transportation, some of which may have been connected to the Traversa issues.
Jason Cohen, whose three kids are in NCPS, said he and his wife are “grateful to the teachers and staff and the administrators and the board for creating such a fabulous opportunity for our children” in New Canaan.
Cohen continued: “With that being said, the bar’s been set high. And one area where I think we can improve and move the bar up a little bit more was some challenges that we had around transportation.The first two weeks have been quite challenging for my family with transportation. There have been several issues that have made this challenging, and from what we’ve heard from other families and group chats and conversations, it seems like they’re facing similar challenges.”
Cohen said that one of his children was put on the wrong bus, and that his kids have been facing a 50-minute window for bus pickup and dropoff that has impacted both parents.
“For pickup, I commute to New York City every day and it makes it impossible for me to participate in the pickup and dropoff of my children as a result, which puts everything on my wife, who also works full time, and adding an approximately two-hour window for waiting for a bus to come pick up our children,” he said. “It’s like a commute to New York City and it was unanticipated, and this means that work schedules have to change at very short notice and over more than a week’s time, and that has an impact.”
Cohen called for improved communication from the district.
Luizzi’s comments came by way of introducing the principals of New Canaan’s public schools, who provided reports about the opening of the school year.
Not every school reported transportation difficulties. Matt Kascak, principal at South School, said that “transportation-wise we had a really good week.”
“We really didn’t have very many problems,” he said, noting that within a few days all bus drop-offs and pickups were on time and that South had no issues with kids being put on the wrong bus.
Here are some highlights from the principals’ reports:
Dr. Zoe Robinson, East School: On Aug. 19 a group of student leaders welcomed new families to the school, including a scavenger hunt and student-led tours, followed by meet-and-greets the following week prior to the start of school on Aug. 27. East has 565 students K-4, including 113 new kindergarten students, and 30 sections across the school, with six at each grade level. “The first few days of school were filled with enthusiastic smiles, teachers really focused on a smooth routine and strong sense of community,” Robinson said. “Teachers worked diligently to establish classroom expectations, built connections with their students and created welcoming spaces for students to thrive and learn. Overall the opening of East school has been both joyful and successful. We’re excited for the year ahead as we explore opportunities to make sure that we foster their learning, help build them as citizens and make sure that they have a very successful year.”
Matt Kascak, South School: This is the 75th anniversary of South School, which opened in September 1950, and there are a variety of activities planned to mark the milestone. South has 489 students, up about 12 from last year, across 26 sections that are all within classroom size guidelines. There are 21 new students in grades one through four, and 99 kindergartners. This summer, 14 South families took care of the school garden, which produced 60 pounds of food, 80% of which goes to residents of the Schoolhouse Apartments. The school also is continuing its composting program, thanks in part to Planet New Canaan, which helped South find a new company that takes their compostable trays, in addition to compostable utensils, brown napkins and food scraps. “We are truly off to a great start and our next big event is our Fall Family Gathering scheduled for Sept. 14 from 4 to 6 p.m. on our lower playground,” Kascak said.
Jan Murphy, West School: West has 423 students in K-4 and 56 in pre-K. Nine classrooms received new smartboards, and there’s a new monitor in the gym for the physical education teacher. There are 19 new students and 17 new families at West, coming from as far away as London. The school’s leadership chose “A Thousand No’s: A Growth Mindset Story of Grit, Resilience, and Creativity” as the West School book to open the academic year. “One thing that we are doing this year is we are partnering with New Canaan CARES, with Colleen Prostor and Maureen Asiel, for a program called ‘Game On,’ which is for third grade students and it’s for them to play games with each other and one of our teaching assistants is assisting with that,” Murphy said. She also thanked the school’s secretaries, custodians, maintenance staff and teachers, and highlighted the loving way that faculty and staff handled the recent tragic loss of one of its teacher’s children while also balancing the exciting start of school: “I just want to thank you for the respect, the caring and the support that each of you has shown to one of our teachers,” Murphy said.
Sarah Granite, Saxe Intermediate School: The Saxe Intermediate School (fifth and sixth grade) had 633 students last week, including 26 new students coming from as far away as Indonesia, China and Chile. There are 14 sections in the fifth grade and 16 in sixth. Saxe Intermediate also has a new logo featuring the sun and a “Shine Bright” theme to the new academic year. There’s also a new “Rise and Shine” initiative that’s an extension of the K-4 “morning meeting,” and it’s a chance for students to work on relationship-building. “Overall it’s been a wonderful start to the year,” Granite said.
Dave Gusitsch, Saxe Middle School: This year Saxe (seventh and eighth grade) had nearly 600 students, including 23 who are new to town. “In my eight years as principal at Saxe Middle School, the launch into the 2025-26 school year may just be the best in recent memory,” Gusitsch said. “And I cannot be more proud of staff and students. Since teachers returned from convocation and through the opening days of professional earning, our 7th- and 8th-grade teachers have come in with a positive and enthusiastic mindset—and yes, they have been updated on our positive psychology admin retreat and the joy drops that we all had so much fun with. And I believe their planful approach was evident to our students as they arrived last week and continued through today. There’s a genuine sense of excitement about the school year.” Last year’s move to a phone-free school “and really more importantly our digital wellness, was hugely beneficial to students and honestly adults as well, in the way that we operate within our building during school hours,” he said. “Students knew the ropes and it was a seamless return to students returning their electronic devices in their Yonder pouches—not saying reminders won’t be necessary, but we’ll celebrate the wins when we get them, even if they may not be huge.”
Bill Egan, New Canaan High School: There’s a new PA system being installed at NCHS. This year, the school changed the scheduling of its freshman orientation, offering a morning session instead of in the afternoon. “The opening week was filled with energy,” Egan said. “Students are excited to be together and our faculty has once again created a warm and welcoming environment where every learner feels like they belong. On Friday we also held class meetings during which we discussed the importance of Ram pride, and the incredible support our school receives from the community.” NCHS has 1,269 students this year at NCHS. “I’ve worked in many school districts, and I can say without hesitation that this Board of Ed is extraordinary, professional, supportive and unwavering in its commitment to students,” he said.
I believe it is the policy or at least the goal of the BOE to put out bus routes 2 weeks before school starts. That is smart policy as it allows kinks in the system to be worked out before the start of school. When we all did not see our emails saying the routes our kids were going to be on it should have been a serious red flag to the BOE and the community that we were going to have a problem, which in fact we did.