Challenge: Arlington Public Schools, (APS) needed a way to manage a high volume of transportation inquiries from a highly engaged, informed community, especially during the surge of calls at the start of the school year, while ensuring urgent issues were prioritized and staff accountability was maintained.
Solution: With Let’s Talk and its integrated Call Center, APS introduced a call-handling process that filters generic inquiries to the call center, escalates urgent cases directly to leadership, and uses a queue system to ensure no call goes unanswered. The platform also tracks Customer Experience (CX) scores and provides real-time visibility into inquiry status and resolution.
Results: APS reduced leadership workload by eliminating the need for supervisors to field routine calls, ensured all inquiries are acknowledged and addressed, strengthened stakeholder trust through faster, more transparent communication, and consistently maintained a CX score above 8.5.
Located just outside Washington, D.C., Arlington Public Schools (APS) serves a highly engaged community where families expect timely, accurate responses, especially when it comes to their child’s transportation.
“Many of our families work in or near the Capitol, which means they are highly informed, highly engaged, and have high expectations for service,” said Lance Johnson, Executive Director of Transportation & Fleet Services at APS. “We needed a platform that could help our staff meet those expectations and deliver the level of service our community deserves.”
At the start of each school year, the APS Transportation Department faced an overwhelming surge of calls, many asking simple questions like “What’s my child’s bus stop?” or “What time does the bus arrive?” These inquiries tied up the district’s call center and leadership team, leaving less time to resolve urgent or complex issues.
Parents also grew frustrated when calls went unanswered or went straight to voicemail during peak times. And once calls were escalated, there was no clear way to track whether they had been resolved, thus creating accountability gaps. That’s when the district turned to Let’s Talk with its integrated Call Center.
APS transitioned from another provider to Let’s Talk to improve efficiency, strengthen accountability, and enhance customer service districtwide.
With Let’s Talk and its Call Center, APS now uses a tiered call-handling process:
“One of the biggest benefits of Let’s Talk is the accountability it offers. We can see when an inquiry was received, whether it was answered, and how it was resolved. That visibility has built greater trust with our families and within our team.”
– Lance Johnson, Executive Director of Transportation & Fleet Services, Arlington Public Schools (VA)
By leveraging Let’s Talk, APS Transportation has improved efficiency during back-to-school operations and year-round customer service:
“One of the biggest benefits of Let’s Talk is the accountability it offers,” Johnson said. “We can see when an inquiry was received, whether it was answered, and how it was resolved. That visibility has built greater trust with our families and within our team.”
In addition to transportation, APS uses Let’s Talk to support Human Resources, its Welcome Center, and other high-demand departments. The district plans to expand the platform’s use further to unify service delivery across the district.
Speak to a K12 Insight expert
Schedule a demo