WAUKESHA, Wis. — The School District of Waukesha starts school Tuesday morning. However, the district does not have enough bus drivers. According to the district, this has been ongoing in Waukesha prior to this school year. Some routes are changing, others won’t run at all.
Parents tell TMJ4 that they have been scrambling all weekend to find transportation plans for their children.
"I feel like the school district has dropped the ball,” Kirsten Jenkins explained.
Jenkins is a mom of an incoming freshman at West High School. She and many other parents received an email on Thursday regarding the bus routes.
"The first email stated if you don't hear from us, you're going to be fine. An hour later, just kidding, we don't have buses for you.”
According to the district’s website, there should be a bus for her son, Samuel, starting Sept. 11. She says she will have to drive him each day because walking is not a safe option for her son.
“It would put him on the southwest bypass, which is super busy. And then would have to cross 59. So it's not nice neighborhood streets. It's 45 miles an hour roads."
The district's website says, “Students residing 2 miles or more from their home school or in an area determined unusually hazardous are eligible for transportation.”
Jenkins is not alone with the bus route changes. Robin Scott got an alert about her daughter at Butler Middle School.
"It said your daughter has a bus, but it's going to arrive at school late and it's going to leave school early," Scott explained.
Robin added the time up that her daughter starting 6th grade would be missing each week. She says, “It's about 125 minutes of instruction weekly, it's about two hours."
In order for her daughter to not miss class, she plans to carpool with other parents.
"I consider myself fortunate to find a carpool with even a bus route that I can rely on as a backup. However, there are many parents that are absolutely panicking because there is no backup," Scott explained.
The school district did release a statement late Monday night about the changes sent to parents last Thursday. The statement said, “Drivers are still needed for nine bus routes and First Student is actively training and testing new applicants.”
The school district is looking for drivers to cover all the routes. The application can be found here.
Bussing Communication to Me... by TMJ4 News
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