Mother Claims School Bus Didn't Pick Up Her Child Two Days in a Row
A mother says the bus failed to pick up her child two days in a row, forcing the MPS student to wait outside in frigid cold temperatures.
Jolene Reit says on Wednesday her daughter waited at her designated bus stop 5 minutes before the scheduled stop and 20 minutes after. She walked home and told her mother the bus never came.
On Thursday, Jolene went and waited with her 14-year-old daughter at the bus stop the same amount of time. The bus is scheduled to pick her daughter De'Janeh at 8:20 a.m. The two waited for the bus from 8:15 to 8:40.
"It was not nice at all. It was cold. We looked like red cherry tomatoes when we got in the house," said Jolene Reit.
Lakeside Buses told her their GPS systems show they did stop at 74th and Casper at 8:32 a.m.
Jolene says that is impossible because she was waiting at the bus stop at that time.
"They're not taking our kids into considerations. It's cold out there, and I know that the bus driver if they have kids, they'd feel the same way. My daughter could have had frostbite," said Reit.
Not only is this the second day her daughter wasn't picked up, Jolene says only after CBS 58 contacted the school and the bus company, did she get a response. The school sent a bus to get Jolene's daughter, and she says the school will be calling her everyday to make sure the bus picks up her daughter.
"The only thing I think is going to get resolved is if more parents call and report this issue," said Reit.
MPS reminds parents to be at their stops at scheduled times and that buses can run late on cold days because they may wait for students to get out of warm cars and onto the bus.
MPS says they do not step in for grievances like these unless there's a pattern of problems. The spokesperson says there hasn't been any recent concern, and referred us to the bus company to find out what happened in Jolene and De'Janeh's situation.
This is not the first time there's been a mix up between MPS schools and their contracted bus companies. In September of 2016, students didn't show up at school after they were put on the wrong bus. In January of 2015, MPS admitted to communication mistake where kids waited for their buses for over an hour.
CBS 58 reached out to Lakeside Buses, but they did not get back to us in time for this story.