LEE COUNTY, Fla. — The first day of school for southwest Florida had many parents frustrated over bus delays. Some told Fox 4 their child was nearly an hour late.
Alli Smith's son, Michael, goes to Alva Middle School. The bus was supposed to be at his stop at 6:55 a.m.
"At 7:15 he calls me and he’s like, 'Mom the bus still isn’t here,'" Smith said. "I said 'Oh great, we’re starting this already.'"
She called the bus depot and said there was no answer. She then called the school and let them know Michael was going to be late.
The next step was to check the Where's The Bus app. Smith said the bus went from Buckingham to Riverdale before going to where Michael's stop.
"He was probably about 30-40 minutes late on his first day already," she said. "It's not a good way to start the school year so far."
Dr. Christopher Bernier, the Lee County School District Superintendent, acknowledged the delays on Thursday.
"Actually our buses have run better on time today than they’ve run in the past," he said. "We had some weather early during the elementary arrivals, which delayed some of our middle school buses."
Bernier also said traffic from parent pick-up pushed back bus times.
"A lot of additional parent traffic and parent pick-up loops, which is delaying some of our buses’ ability to get to schools," he explained.
For some perspective, the district said there are 546 routes compared to last year's 651. The district gave credit to the new proximity plan, which cut down routes by around 150.
The district needs 67 more drivers to be fully staffed. Last year, they needed 181 drivers.
Despite the gap, Bernier expects the arrival times to improve, but said using the proximity plan is not going to be a fix-all.
"It was a step in the right direction for elementary, and an additional step potentially with middle," he said.
But tsome parents say the issues went beyond delays.
Jonathon Vogel, a father of three, said the Choice program is causing frustration.
He wanted his daughter, Raegan, to go to Three Oaks Middle. In his neighborhood, he said that's where all the students go. She was assigned to Bonita Middle instead.
The district told Vogel there wasn't room at Three Oaks.
"The concern is it wasn’t even thought out if we don’t even have a bus assigned," he said. "We understand it's a complex situation."
When Fox 4 asked the school district about his situation, they said Vogel needs to contact the school and request a bus stop. That request will then go to the transportation zone they're assigned to.
The district said it will take some time to fully make the changes to routes to accommodate requests.
"The troubling thing is watching six other buses pass by while we’re waiting for a bus," Vogel said. "It’s confusing."
His elementary school student, Tatum, had issues with her bus Thursday morning. Vogel said it was about 30 minutes late.
When dismissal came around, he said she got on her bus, which went to Bonita. It then went back to her elementary school and didn't bring her home, so he had to pick her up.
"Don't think they've figured out the bus system," he said.
While Smith didn't have this issue, she's asking for communication between the district and bus drivers.
"What do they need to be able to perform the job that they are assigned?" she said.
She also wants more communication with parents.
"It’s affecting parents, it’s affecting our kids," Smith said. "Let parents know, 'Hey, this is the issue that we're having.' Communication goes a long way."
