CINCINNATI — One Cincinnati father said his middle schoolers waited at their designated stop on the first day of school, but the bus never came.
"To see my children still at the bus stop, way past the time that was scheduled, that raised some concerns," said Cincinnati Public Schools parent Donald Feerer.
After the yellow bus didn't come, Feerer drove his children to Gamble Montessori. He said he reached out to the transportation department, but kept getting the general mailbox voicemail.
"The two times I called there were two different case numbers. Within that two-hour span, they had over 301 different case numbers,” Feerer said. “That means there were a lot of other parents out there that had the same issues we had, but they're not answering the phones.”
According to the CPS board, transportation for the first week of school was slightly better this year than it was last year, but Superintendent Iranetta Wright isn’t satisfied.
"It's just not good enough for me. My expectation is 100% and until we get there, I'm not satisfied," Wright said. "If we have any child that has not been picked up, if we have any child that's not at school on time, if we have any child that has a concern about their bus, it's not okay."
After the first two days, district leaders are taking a closer look at what's working.
"At this point, we have not had any concerns from Metro, and I think it really speaks to the partnership we have with Metro," Wright said.
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District leaders said they are also taking note of what’s not working and tackling the issues head-on.
"Where we really saw the concerns were our seventh- and eighth-grade students,” Wright said. “We haven't had as many concerns from our younger students that were already on the yellow buses, it’s been our seventh- and eighth-graders that were added during the summer."
The district is also addressing concerns about the location of the bus stops, as some students are having to walk longer distances.
"Well hopefully they work out all the kinks, but they should've worked out the kinks beforehand," Feerer said.
Wright said she wants to assure parents they are working on it, and she encourages them to continue reaching out with concerns.
"I thank parents for being patient with us, I really do,” said Wright. “Today has been better than it was yesterday. We know that each day will get better, and we are monitoring the information."
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