Deptford Twp. parents frustrated over missing, changing bus info ahead of first day of school
DEPTFORD TOWNSHIP, New Jersey (WPVI) -- Tricia Skolnick's kids are ready for their first day of school on Thursday in Deptford Township, New Jersey.
But she's nervous to find out if the buses are ready.
"My third grader who goes to the same school as my first grader - it's listed as 'No Bussing' for him. Even though my first grader does have a bus," explained Skolnick.
On top of that, Skolnick says the bus stop assigned to her daughter is not safe and not walkable from their home.
"Even if they moved the bus stop to this side, we can't even walk on that side because there's no sidewalk," Skolnick said as she stood at the bus stop Wednesday afternoon.
In August, the district announced it would not provide free busing for students who live within a certain distance from their schools.
The backlash was swift from families and township officials, which led to the decision being reversed.
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But now, as the first day of school starts, many parents are alarmed to find they have no bus information or a bus stop that's much farther than they're used to.
Superintendent Kevin Kenauss released a letter to parents on Wednesday, saying in part:
"Our new transportation staff has been working to rectify issues created from prior department supervision, which had deleted student information from our old transportation routing software. This data was completely lost and unavailable to us, leading to routes having to be recreated from scratch. As of today, students have been provided a bus stop, which appears in Genesis. However, many of these stops will require reevaluation, due to the legitimate safety concerns raised by parents. We are in the process of evaluating each individual situation which has been brought to our attention."
He went on to ask parents for their patience and that they check the Genesis Parent Portal every morning after 5:30 a.m. to get the latest updates on their child's bus stop information.
Joan Bahateridis has two students going to the same school, but says they're assigned to two different bus stops and two different buses.
"If they don't allow her to hitchhike onto her brother's bus tomorrow, I will keep her home," she said.
She says she hasn't had any luck contacting anyone in the district to find out why this is happening.
She also said adding the 15-minute walk to the farther bus stop is not safe for her 13-year-old daughter, Alexis.
"I feel like the anger is reasonable," said Alexis. "Because a lot of kids have to walk on main streets just to get to a bus stop that's so far from home."
"I work a full-time job. I don't have the privilege of dropping them off," said Bahateridis.
Some parents say they're just driving their kids to school even if they do have bus information, because they're nervous about the miscommunications so far.
A district spokesperson says bus information will continue to be updated.
The district is asking any parents with bus issues to email schoolbus@deptfordschools.org.
