PORTSMOUTH, Va. — The new school year means new routines, but for some parents in Portsmouth it's causing serious headaches.
All 72 of Portsmouth Public Schools' buses experienced delays Monday and Tuesday, according to a spokesperson for Portsmouth Public Schools.
One mom told News 3 the buses didn't come to pick up her kindergartner at all the first three days of school.
"And the bus never came. I have to be in to work by 8 o'clock, my daycare actually had to take her and two other kids to school," said Traci Kellum, Portsmouth parent. "First time riding the school bus, first time going to school. It's a new experience and I'm like, 'great, you're putting a lasting impression on new students.'"
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She thinks the end of day drop offs have been mishandled too. She said her child's bus didn't stop at the correct stop before asking children to exit the bus.
"And [my child] had to direct the bus driver how to get to the bus stop," explained Kellum. "Thankfully she knows left and right, but she doesn't know she has to go down that road and she's relying on someone else to get to where she needs to be."
Kellum said this worried her and meant for a period of time she didn't know where her child got off the bus.
"I [was] like, I need to find my child," said Kellum.
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And, she said, it's been upsetting for her kindergartner too.
"Now this morning, she told me she didn't want to get on the bus because she was afraid she wouldn't be dropped off at the right place again," said Kellum.
Another dad said he's also had issues this school year.
"The second day is really where I had the problem because the schedule changed so the kids were going to have to ride the bus," said Charles Carper, Portsmouth parent.
He said he tried to phone his elementary school-aged children after classes let out. He said this year he got his oldest child a cell phone for scheduling and safety concerns.
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"So when you couldn't get a hold of your child what was going through your mind?" asked News 3 reporter Erika Craven.
"At first you're like, 'okay first day with a phone it's on silent still,' second time you're getting a little bit irritated, third time you're getting a bit of anxiety because you don't know what's going on then," said Carper.
He finally heard from a teacher.
"She explained the kids were still in school, the bus was late, she heard the phone go off but because he was still in school he was not allowed to use the phone," said Carper.
He said he's against phones in class, but said parents shouldn't be kept in the dark after hours in instances like this.
"I just feel lied to in a way because they're blaming it on the [executive order/cell phone policy]," said Carper.
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News 3 reached out to Portsmouth Public Schools about these incidents.
"In regards to these specific concerns, I can confirm that school leadership has been actively involved with schools in improving communication with families regarding the delays, including clarifying the use of cell phones at elementary level after the school day," stated Portsmouth Public Schools chief communications officer Lauren Nolasco. She said the cell phone policy applies "bell-to-bell."
We asked if there were kids dropped off at the wrong stops the past two days, though Nolasco said she wasn't made aware of any other reports.
"We've been working through these challenges. This year was different because parents had to sign up for bus transportation," said Micheal King, coordinator of transportation services for Portsmouth Public Schools.
News 3 asked King to elaborate on why parents and kids have seen so many bus delays.
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"The students are getting acclimated to being back in school, the drivers are getting acclimated to brand new routes. So that is going to cause the lateness to occur, but the transportation team here, my supervisors, my routers, we have a daily meeting where we are looking at those stop arrival times and shifting around what we need to to make that better," said King.
If there is a delay, he added, there are things parents can do:
"The first line of defense parents have at their disposal is the Edulog Parents Portal App. That is going to let the parents know when the bus in the vicinity. If the bus is running extremely late the parents need to reach out to the school or they can reach out to transportation," said King. He added that the first few weeks of school they often see an influx of calls, but, he added, his team will get back to parents.
However the bus tracking app isn't perfect, according to Kellum and Carper.
"I do have the app but if you don't know what number the bus is going to be, you can't track that bus. She hasn't been on the bus she's been assigned to at all this year so far," said Kellum. "It's been a substitute."
"It's part of the anxiety because you're supposed to have these resources that aren't available," said Carper. He said he had the app but his children's information had been "pending" for some time.
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The parents said, however, they don't blame the schools and understand that things happen. Still, they want better communication.
"If you have 30 kids in the classroom and it's 30 minutes past, 40 minutes past the time to go, start sending out some messages," said Carper.
"Contact your parents. Have a system where we can text the parents and say, 'hey, your bus number is down for the day and we have to substitute," added Kellum.
Portsmouth Public Schools said families who did not complete the School Check-Ins were not originally scheduled bus stops as transportation requests were part of the process. Nolasco said more than 5,000 students still need to complete that check-in as of Wednesday.
She added that school leadership has made progress with the delays and expects the school bus services to improve throughout the week. Portsmouth Public Schools reported that delays improved by 30 minutes from Monday to Tuesday.
