Visit our website to connect with your building’s transportation liaison and explore all the resources available to support families.
Across the Ithaca City School District (ICSD), each school has a designated transportation liaison, an important point of contact who works with families, staff, and the district’s transportation team to help problem-solve and connect people with available options. This work plays a key role in making sure students and caregivers have access to school programs, events, and essential services.
Transportation liaisons support families in a variety of ways. This can include helping coordinate rides to school events, sharing information about available resources, troubleshooting barriers, and connecting families with one another.
At DeWitt Middle School, staff have been creating informal opportunities for families to connect around transportation, such as rideshare tables at events like the 6th-grade ice cream social and caregiver conference days. These moments give families an easy way to coordinate with one another. Staff also regularly work one-on-one with caregivers to talk through transportation options for things like medical appointments.
At Beverly J. Martin Elementary School, transportation liaison Jamie Driscoll has been working closely with the school’s PTA to build out a more structured rideshare system. This effort allows families to both request and offer rides for school events and activities, creating a network of support within the school community. In addition to coordinating this system, outreach has included sharing transportation resources with staff and families, helping normalize conversations about transportation needs, and making it easier for families to ask for support.
Districtwide, transportation solutions also extend to extracurriculars and enrichment opportunities. For example, staff recently partnered with ICSD Transportation to arrange a bus for a family event at the Sciencenter, with multiple pickup locations to make attendance easier for families across the community.
Within ICSD Athletics, coaches and families are encouraged to coordinate rides so students can participate in practices and competitions. Communication about ridesharing is built into team meetings and program updates, and fan buses have also been used to help students attend sectional events and support their teams.
Together, these efforts reflect a shared, districtwide approach: identifying barriers and working collaboratively to remove them. By centering the role of transportation liaisons and continuing to build on existing practices, the ICSD is helping ensure that more students and families can take part in the opportunities that support learning, connection, and well-being.