New Jersey school district's transportation plan missing crucial bus information for students, parents say
GLOUCESTER COUNTY, N.J. (CBS) — More students are heading back to school this week, and Deptford is facing new criticism about the district's transportation plan. Parents said they're still waiting on bus information from the New Jersey school district.
Candice Elsesser's three children are set to attend Deptford Township schools this Thursday, but the family faces challenges with the district's transportation plan.
With a high school senior, a 4th grader, and a 3-year-old starting Pre-K, Elsesser said they typically like to finalize their morning routine at least the week before school starts. However, she still hasn't received crucial information from school officials.
"Right there it's missing the bus number," she said. "It tells them what bus to get on. There are other townships driving past. That number is so important for the kids."
In addition to missing bus numbers, Elsesser said her daughter's assigned stop is a considerable walking distance away, a major concern because she is nonverbal.
"A 30-minute walk for a 3-year-old is ridiculous," Elsesser said.
Several other parents have contacted CBS News Philadelphia saying their students were also missing bus numbers, times and locations.
This follows Deptford Township School District's recent decision to reverse a plan to cut courtesy busing for the 2024-2025 school year, a move that would have saved over $1.6 million annually.
Superintendent Kevin Kanauss sent a statement to CBS News Philadelphia saying:
"There were unforeseen and unexpected errors that occurred in our bus pass upload into our student information system for parents/guardians. The transportation and technology departments are working as fast as they can (and have throughout the holiday weekend) to get all of the students information loaded into our student information system from our transportation software to fix the bus passes and stops for the community. All of the information has been corrected and entered today and bus numbers and times will be updated in the student information system overnight for all of the students who receive transportation as they have in the past for grades K-12.
We are working on providing more safe and efficient stops in the district for the families that have reached out. We are hoping to get those resolved as soon as possible.
I thank the community for their patience as we work through this and I am so sorry for the anxiety this is causing.
If that happens, it would bring significant relief to parents.
"It's very frustrating because most of us parents work. How can we work if... We can't plan accordingly for our kids," Elsesser said.