Lost on the bus

I think maybe Kassy is growling. She was a goof all morning.

Ahhh. The first day of school. My friend describes it as a melancholy day. I felt that way. I needed the break. Our summer didn't really include any restful vacations or fun new locations. I was the chief cook, laundress, cleaner, planner and judge. It was exhausting. But school means my girls are off, doing their own thing, I can't share the giggles over lunch or help them push through a challenge. It's healthy I know. But melancholy is how I felt as my girls started 4th and 2nd grade. They loved their new teachers and are excited about the kids in their classes. But the end of the day, oh it was a day to remember. Rather than giving the event any more time than I already have, I will let you read the letter I sent to the superintendent.

September 6, 2011

To whom it concerns,

My name is Laura Wells. I have two wonderful children who attend Handley. They are currently in 2^nd and 4^th grades. We live in the city of Saginaw, and ever since the school moved to its Elm street location we my girls have ridden the bus regularly. If, as I have heard, the SPSD has a motto of customer service first or even just a goal to take good care of its parents and students, then my story needs to be heard and responded to. The story is long so you can see the numerous times that things didn't happen as they should.

The first year my oldest daughter rode the bus was the 2008-2009 school year. Perhaps because this was the first year my neighborhood qualified for busing, we actually got a packet of information before school started, stating the drop off times and locations, rules, transportation phone numbers and the name of the driver. The subsequent two years, we would receive this same packet the first time I showed up at the bus stop. If bus drivers changed during the course of the year, parents were never notified.

Unlike most Saginaw residents who attend Handley, we have a neighborhood bus stop because there has always been between 5 and 9 neighborhood kids who attend Handley. The pick up location for the last three years has been on my street, Mershon, just a few driveways away from Davenport. Every year the pick up time has been between 7:30 and 7:45. The drop off location has always been the corner of Davenport and Mershon with an arrival of time of 3:40-3:50.

While my girls did not ride the bus this morning, we did see it come down the street at 7:35 and pick up kids in the usual location. I assumed this meant that things were the same as usual. So when the girls asked to ride the bus home, I said they could, even though I had received no busing information (I can only assume that none of the other students who rode the bus this afternoon had received information either. I know none of the ones who in my neighborhood had information and I know the neighbor girl who rode the bus this morning did not get her info even then.)

At 3:35 pm, I started to wait outside for the bus. I chatted with a neighbor while keeping a watchful eye on the drop off corner. I saw one bus slow down at our corner, but not stop completely. By 3:50 I started to worry that the bus stop had been moved and I had not been informed. I called Handley and was blessed with a person who answered the phone and gave me a number for transportation. I called and it led to a full voice mail box. I called Handley again, I got a second phone number which also led to a full voice mail box. Then I checked online and the phone number listed there for the Saginaw school transportation department matched the number I had already been given.

I called Handley again, in a bit of a panic. I found Mrs. Couillard who assured me she would call me back with information. When the call was returned, I was told my girls had been dropped off at Kempton which is a mile from my house if you walk on a busy Davenport. My husband, had already been to Kempton looking for my girls, but he returned. They were not there. The office staff at Kempton thought they had probably gotten off and tried to find their way home. At this point visions of my girls wandering around the city, lost and crying started to fill our heads. The office staff at Kempton now also became involved in trying to locate my girls. After some phone calls they told me husband that the driver didn't know which of the ten stops the girls had gotten off at. They (whoever they was) was trying to remember where they got off. So now my girls could be anywhere on the bus route, lost and crying. Panic set in for me as a mother.

I called Handley again to inform them that the girls were still missing. They made more phone calls and finally took the girls names and address. At 4:35 Handley staff called and said the girls had been found, they were still on the bus and would be dropped at Kempton in 10 minutes. After a long wait, and several more phone calls, they arrived at Kempton at 5:10 pm, almost 2 hours after school ended. At some point in all the phone calls, Mrs Couillard had been told that the bus driver did stop at Mershon street and that the girls didn't get off. I was outside and that bus didn't stop.

An added astonishment to this story is that the bus driver, Mr. Tim, is the same bus driver the girls had last year. He knows their names and their usual stop. He also knows he never communicated with parents about stop times and locations.

Now, here's the story from my girls' point of view. My oldest daughter noticed she had missed her stop when they passed the old Fuerbringer building. She asked to Mr. Tim to please turn around and go back. He told he would do it later. After dropping kids off at Kempton, and when there were 3 other kids left on the bus, Mr. Tim called my daughter up and told her she was supposed to get off at Kempton and had missed her stop. Surprised, she said she didn't know. He said her mother should have told her. Why the morning pick up location would be Mershon and the afternoon drop off location would be Kempton is beyond logic. And making my daughter feel like it was her fault (or her mother's) for not getting off is definitely inappropriate.

I feel fortunate to have my girls home safely. I feel fortunate to have a quality public school to send my girls to. I used to appreciate busing, but now I am fortunate I can choose not to use a bus system incapable of adequately caring for my young girls. A bus system cannot control the weather or the actions of other drivers, but it should always have stellar organization and communication with families.

A parent with a concern about a late bus should be able to call transportation, share the name of their child, confirm that they are on the bus and learn the reason for the bus's delay, all in less than 5 minutes. A family should be informed of pick up and drop off times and locations prior to the first day of school. And a bus driver who forgets to drop off a few kids, should turn around, drop them off and call his boss to let him know why he is now late (I must believe that he surely wouldn't have let my kids get off at Kempton when he knew I didn't know and my house was a mile away).

Please let me know if any changes happen. We will not be riding the bus until the system has a phone line in place to locate children and answer questions. Thank you to the staff at Handley for making phone calls, not walking away from the problem, and even calming me down. Thank you to the staff at Kempton for helping with a problem that really wasn't theirs. And thanks to Mr. Tom, the driver of the shuttle bus who brought my precious girls to Kempton and asked them kind questions about their first day of school, which raised their spirits.

Laura Wells

Praise the Lord my kids are safe, that Tom was home and just so you know....my street corner is the official drop off location. And the girls...they are totally fine, but not too interested in riding the bus any more.