A Late Bus Problem: Schools Working on the Issue

Parents are concerned — some of them getting downright impatient and angry — that many of the school buses coming from the elementary schools have been late since the start of the school year. Some are late to pick the students up, and late to drop them off at home.

"Peaslee is dismissed at 3:20 p.m.," a parent told Patch. "The buses aren't even there yet. We are the third stop from the school, literally around the corner, and my kids get home at 3:40 p.m. There are kids getting home between 3:50 and 4 p.m. A lot of families are not thrilled it has taken this long to find a resolution about it. Kids are sitting on the hallway floor at dismissal until their bus arrives. I have heard from other moms at Lincoln and Zeh, with similar issues."

The late buses are also arriving from the and the

Dr. Charles Gobron, superintendent of schools, and Cheryl Levesque, the school's business director, both said the schools are working diligently on the problem.

We are aware and have taken steps to alleviate the problem," said Gobron. "The difficulty seems to be on the ride home, not on the ride to school. We are working very hard to solve the problem. Parents will soon see the situation greatly improved."

Working closely with the bus company to pinpoint the difficulties, Levesque said the bus company and bus coordinator have "worked hard over the past couple of weeks analyzing the routes, times and stops. As a result, a number of changes were made to the routes. While these changes resulted in minor improvements, they were not what we had hoped for."

Levesque added that there haven't been significant changes to enrollement numbers, but it's important to note that each year routes shift to accommodate student addresses.

"This year," she said, "we experienced a number of these shifts resulting in lengthening a number of our routes. We are committed to relieving the current challenging areas for our families and are continuing to work on improvements."