A Euclid mom is upset after it took two hours for her young daughter to be dropped off by a bus at their home Tuesday.
Jennifer Davis started to get worried around 4 p.m. when it didn’t arrive. She says she called the company Euclid City Schools uses for its transportation, First Student, but wasn’t given a clear answer.
“I’m terrified as a mother, I have no idea where my child is and nobody is telling me,” said Davis.
Davis says she even drove around looking for her daughter once her husband came home.
“You think well is somebody with my child? Are they taking her somewhere she doesn’t know? She’s four years old! She doesn’t know her phone number. She doesn’t know her address.”
Euclid City Schools Superintendent Charles Smialek says GPS data shows the bus stopped very close to the student’s house twice, but never stopped exactly there.
“We make sure our drivers always release a kindergarten or pre-kindergarten student to the parent directly. That didn’t happen in this case because we stopped close to the house, but not in front of the house,” he said.
Smialek says there was a substitute driver on the route that day and Davis’ daughter is new to the system. Davis says her daughter began riding the bus last Thursday. She just received information in the mail Wednesday.
Euclid Schools launched the FirstView app in October that allows parents to track the student’s bus in real time.Only a fraction of the families whose children ride the bus are signed up. Because of that, Smialek is considering sending out another letter with information.
First Student provides transportation for 1,100 school districts, including Euclid.
