KHOU 11 pushed HISD for solutions and now, district officials said they are working to adjust the bus route so students arrive to class on time.
HOUSTON — Classes at Houston Independent School District campuses have been in session for nearly four weeks, but some parents along a particular bus route said they are still dealing with a major issue.
They told KHOU 11 that the bus is not picking up their kids on time, resulting in students being late to school. That bus takes students to both Lamar High School and Lanier Middle School.
One of the bus stops on that route for morning pick-up is near E. 8th and Harvard streets, by Harvard Elementary School. That is where parent Sally Carr said the bus is supposed to pick up her son, who is in seventh grade at Lanier Middle School.
“It has yet to be on time,” Carr said. “I completely understand in the beginning of school, the first couple of weeks, you got to work the kinks out, but we’re past that.”
Carr said the bus is scheduled to pick up her son and other students at the Harvard Elementary bus stop location at 7:52 a.m. However, Carr claimed the bus arrives at the stop closer to 8:20 a.m. or 8:30 a.m., which is around the time of the first bell at Lanier.
“The result is that the kids would get picked up at the bus stop at the time school is starting, so that’s impossible for them to make it to school on time,” Carr said.
Carr said that the bus driver told her and other parents that the bus route services elementary students first, and then the bus circles back to pick up the middle and high school students, creating a tight timeline. She said she reached out to HISD’s transportation department, but the district did not offer any concrete information about how they would fix the issue.
“We still don’t have a solution that gets kids to school on time. It’s just really not acceptable,” Carr said.
KHOU 11 pushed for solutions and called the school district for answers about why the bus was reportedly being delayed and what was being done to solve the issue.
HISD confirmed the bus was delayed due to making multiple trips at several schools, and they vowed to adjust the route. The school district sent KHOU 11 the following statement:
“HISD transports approximately 20,000 students to and from school each day. This bus route is temporarily servicing three schools via multiple trips assigned, resulting in delays. Our Transportation team is diligently working on adjustments to the route so students will arrive on time. Lanier and Lamar students and families will be notified ahead of those changes via email and text.”
But as of Monday afternoon, there was still no timeline for when those changes would be implemented.
In the meantime, Carr said she is starting to take matters into her own hands.
“I usually go by the bus stop about 8 o’clock. Every day, the kids are there. No one’s been pick up on time, so I usually take the kids that are at the stop to school, so that they can get to school on time,” Carr said. “My son wants to do well. He really doesn’t want to be late to school.”
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