JACKSONVILLE, Fla — It’s been a stressful yet nerve-wracking week so far for some parents in Duval County.
“I could track a package that I ordered last week. I know it’s across the country but I know what street it’s on, but I don’t know where my children are between here and seven minutes away," said Stephanie Tesori, whose two kids attend Louis Sheffield Elementary.
Duval County Public Schools launched a website Wednesday communicating bus delays to parents.
But Stephanie Tesori says she checked this morning when her kids' bus didn’t show up and the new communication method wasn’t any help.
“I tried to see if there were any delays or anything like that and our school nor our bus was listed on that link this morning," said Tesori.
Tesori has two kids who attend Louis Sheffield Elementary and Tuesday her students were at school after hours because bus 235 never made its appearance.
DCPS says they are looking into this bus and figuring out what's going on.
“That specific bus never even showed up. Never even came to the school so that’s when it was a teacher personally taking it upon herself to come and say come get your kids," said Tesori.
Student Transportation of America has been partners with DCPS since 2009 and they said this school year they are short-staffed. “We have made significant investments in recruitment initiatives and are actively hiring and training new bus drivers to resolve this staffing shortage as quickly as possible," STA said.
“We understand. we are all understanding. we knew it was going to be tough this week. but it’s not okay to leave 5-year-olds, 6-year-olds, 7-year-olds any child out waiting for a bus," said Tesori.
Tesori says starting next week she’ll let her kids take the bus again to see if the system is back and running.