Brevard parent frustrated with students missing class because of bus delays: ‘It’s insane’

Parent frustrated with school bus delays

A Brevard Public Schools middle schooler is missing class because her bus is so late or not showing up at all. The child’s mom is frustrated and trying to find new ways to get her student to school as delays continue across Brevard Public Schools.

BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. - A Brevard Public Schools middle schooler is missing class because her bus is so late or not showing up at all. The child’s mom is frustrated and trying to find new ways to get her student to school as delays continue across Brevard Public Schools.

Krystal Schofield said her eighth grader was late, twice this week, and she’s having to use time at work to track down how her child will make it to school safely.

"She ends up being two hours late to school, so she misses the first two periods of school," said Schofield who took to social media to try and find alternate transportation or ideas from other parents.

The issue happened on Wednesday and Thursday to her daughter, Natalee, who attends Southwest Middle School.

"The whole point of going to school is to learn, and how is she going to learn if she’s not there," she added.

Schofield said her daughter waited outside at the bus stop for 45 minutes before the district sent a school van to pick her up at home. She had to go to work in the morning, so she was getting texts from her daughter about the delays.

"It’s extremely frustrating to not know where she is or anything like that, it’s insane," the mother added.

MORE HEADLINES:

She’s received numerous emails about bus substitutions and delays all this week. The changes are taking a toll on her child’s ability to keep up with classes and missed lessons.

"One-hundred percent, because now instead of concentrating on the simple homework she would have, she has extra homework now instead of being able to do it in school and worrying about – I have to contact this teacher. I have to contact that teacher. I have to make sure I have my assignment and whatever else there are," Schofield exclaimed.

FOX 35 News took these concerns to the school district which said it is still short of bus drivers. In a statement sent to FOX 35, a spokesperson wrote, "That is playing a role in some students arriving late to school. In the southern part of the county, we have hired 20 drivers since school began, but not all of them are through the training process yet."

This parent is losing trust in school transportation and wonders if she'll have to start using her own money to find something more reliable.

"If I can find carpooling, that would be great. I don’t really want to have to pay because I know Uber is $18 each way. I don’t know about you, but not everybody is made of money, so I don’t want to have to dish out money for that," she concluded.

Over the summer, the district upped pay for bus drivers to $20 an hour to try and avoid this issue. BPS is still hiring for additional driver positions.