NORTH RIDGEVILLE, Ohio — Some North Ridgeville families say transportation problems that began on the first day of school are continuing into the second week.
Amanda Ushek told News 5 her son missed school completely on Thursday after his assigned bus failed to pick him up at his scheduled time. Video from her doorbell camera shows the confusion as the bus passed Ushek and her son without stopping.
“I called the transportation department and they’re like, ‘Yeah there’s a sub [driver]. You’ll have that.’ I’m like, ‘Ok well what am I supposed to do about my son? He needs to get to school.’ ‘Well don’t you want to drive him?’ If I could drive him, we wouldn’t be needing busing to begin with,” she said.
Ushek lives two miles from the school and her third grade son has been riding the bus since kindergarten. Her 11th grade daughter has not qualified for busing since the district reduced its busing radius to state minimums in 2023.
Since she had no way to transport her son to school Thursday, Ushek said her daughter had to stay home and watch him. Similar problems forced Ushek to call off work on Monday and keep her son home.
On Wednesday, she said he took the wrong bus and didn’t return home until 5:30pm.
“He was in tears, terrified,” she said.
On Friday, News 5 reported similar transportation challenges on the first day of classes.
RELATED: North Ridgeville busing problems frustrate families on first day
At that time, parents reported hours-long delays and a bus app showing incorrect or missing route information. The district said both the app and the district’s bus routing system were malfunctioning.
On Thursday, parent Ryan Fairbanks said the issues were not resolved when his preschool and kindergarten step-children started school this week.
“You can imagine how frustrating it is with your kids: where are they at, when are they going to get there, how are they going to get there?” Fairbanks said.
He shared a screenshot of the automated text messages from the district announcing numerous changes to bus routes, numbers and schedules.
“We had a schedule originally. That schedule got turned around the day before school starts. Then it says they don’t even have a pickup at that time. Then they got a pickup but they don’t have a drop off,” he said.
Parents of students who use district busing at St. Peter’s Catholic School also reported issues.
One parent shared a letter sent home to families that explained the school would be receiving two of its typical three buses this week while NRCS addressed the problems.
Some called the ongoing issues unacceptable.
“Somebody needs to be held accountable for what’s happening and needs to answer to it. And they have not addressed that,” Fairbanks said.
In a letter home to families this week, the district said conditions are slowly improving. It announced a Google spreadsheet as a backup to the troubled technology.
The letter also said five new drivers started this week, which should reduce double runs and improve consistency.
“We remain committed to making the improvements needed to provide reliable transportation," the letter said.
Ushek said she hopes those improvements come quickly.
"Fix it. This isn't fair for kids," Ushek said. “It’s been super frustrating, super scary. I’m standing at work for an hour every day trying to make sure my kid’s on the right bus, making sure he’s getting home. “
Catherine Ross is the Lorain County reporter at News 5 Cleveland. Follow her on X @CatherineRossTV, on Facebook CatherineRossTV or email her at Catherine.Ross@wews.com.
