As the second week of school gets underway in Prince George’s County, the school district said all students have now been assigned bus routes. Initially, thousands of students had not been assigned to a route.
But several families told News4 their kids’ routes are two and three hours long.
One kindergartener wet himself on the bus home because he couldn’t hold it for that long. His bus ride is three hours, and he had an accident partway through. His mom, Jessica Kopas, said it was a heartbreaking start to his second week of school.
“This is tainting the whole beginning of your education experience,” she said. “[…] It’s also a very public and embarrassing thing for your kid to experience — when everybody on the bus knows what has happened.”
She and fellow mom Laurie Pickard said their kids both have hourslong bus rides: two hours in the morning and three hours in the afternoon.
It’s why Pickard and many other parents have been driving their kids.
“I’ve done pickup multiple times, where I’ve been sitting at an intersection for an hour or more to turn onto the feeder road to the school, which is a total mess, and I’m waiting there for an hour-and-a-half,” she said.
Other parents told News4 their kids still haven’t received a bus assignment.
“It can be very difficult because we did wait until like 7:30 just in case the bus did come, but it didn’t come,” one parent said. “It makes it awkward for when you gotta go to work.”
Prince George’s County Public Schools said it assigned extra staff to work on bus scheduling over the weekend. It comes as the district’s transportation director is stepping down. Former Chief Operating Officer Mark Fossett will fill the role temporarily.
Monday night, News4 asked Prince George’s County Executive Aisha Braveboy if she still stands by school superintendent Shawn Joseph. She said yes.
“They want to correct this,” Braveboy said. “They want to get it right for our residents, for our children, for our families. And the superintendent is accountable. He has been held accountable, he understands this is his responsibility, and he’s working hard to correct it.”
Several parents told News4 they feel like they’re facing an impossible choice: They don’t want to force their kids to ride the school bus for several hours a day, but at the same time, they worry if they drive their kids to school every day, the school system will think those bus stops aren’t needed and eliminate them.
“This is not fair to our children,” Kopas said. “It’s not fair to families who are trying to keep their heads above water right now.”
Prince George’s County Public Schools said it’s still adjusting the bus routes.
Last week, Prince George’s County Public Schools said some of the bus confusion was caused by issues with the bus tracking app Chipmunk. The school system plans to hold a telephone town hall Wednesday at 6 p.m. to address families’ concerns.
