COLUMBUS, Ohio — More than two months have passed since the start of the school year for Columbus City Schools and parents are now saying they are going to extreme lengths just to provide transportation to and from school for their children.
The parents are demanding answers about what is going on with transportation as they say buses are still coming hours late or not showing up at all.
"I quit my job so I could make sure my kids get back and forth to school because it was getting to a point where I was missing work in the mornings and I was missing most of work in the evenings picking them up,” said CCS parent Amber Wilson.
Wilson says all of the costs are starting to add up. She was forced to take a part-time job, taking a huge pay cut to accommodate her children.
Wilson says she has three boys who attend Maize Elementary School, but some days, they are hours late coming home.
"It's like 5:30 in the afternoon, wondering where my kids are. They're home by 4 o'clock. Where are my boys? I have three boys and I'm not seeing not a one of them,” Wilson said.
Wilson said she got so worried that she called the police department and tried to filling a person persons report for all three kids.
Jacqueline Bryant, the Director of Communications for Columbus City Schools says the district is working as fast as it can to resolve the bussing issues. They are now working with an outside vendor to provide more consistent and timely notifications directly to parents when a route gets canceled or bussing may be coming late.
Bryant says this feature should be enabled in the coming weeks.
Meanwhile, CCS still needs 124 drivers. Bryant said they cannot contract rideshare options and gas reimbursements for parents is not being considered.
Other districts also facing a shortage include Reynoldsburg, which needs at least 48 full-time drivers with a minimum salary of $20.20 per hour. Groveport Madison is also hiring bus drivers and is paying $27 per hour.