Reader-submitted: Busing fiasco taking its toll

lakewood-bus-carpool-traffic-day-2-9-8-16Hi. I am writing this letter to bring awareness to the community, as well as in hopes of getting a response from a responsible individual on the board of education and/or bus company.

Two of our children who attend the same school do not have full day bussing as of the writing of this letter. Their school is over 4 miles from our home, and the commute has put a huge strain on myself and my wife both emotionally and financially. About 3-4 weeks ago our sons who are aged 6 and 10 years old were given a letter from the school assigning them a bus route, specifically and only one way, namely going home for all days ending at 4 p.m. There is still quite a strain and hardship placed on us, as that does not cover every day and the morning commute is not covered, but like thousands of other parents, we are making it work and it is better than nothing.

However, about 2 weeks ago our 10 year old called our home from a friend’s house at about 5:30 p.m. He was very scared and shaken up and told my wife over the phone that his bus driver (the same one who had been doing the route for well over a week) declared out of nowhere that the stop he just did was the last one on his route (which is over 1 mile away from our home) and that our home address is not on his route. He was very stern and screamed at them that they can either get off the bus then and there, or stay on the bus and he will drop them back off at the school. By that time they were scared and intimidated so they got off the bus. My 10 year old explained after that they were worried that no one would be by the school by the time they got there and they would be stuck there by the locked school with no phone, so they decided to get off and try to find their way home. By this time we were worried about the children but we did not call yet as there have been so many fiascos with the busses that we decided to wait another 10 minutes. For instance, one day the school called to tell us that they were told by the bus company that the bus was cancelled and we should pick the kids up. As my wife pulled into the school parking lot their bus showed up. Another day the bus dropped them off at 5:45, and they were scheduled to leave the school at 4:00 (every other year they were home around 4:50 and they are the last stop). Apparently the bus showed up around 5:00. That is just a small example of the ridiculous and unpredictable mess of what officials are calling “bussing” this year.

Now, back to the kids and their story. As mentioned, they were dropped off over 1 mile from home, and it was on a very busy road with no sidewalk and no way to get home. They are very aware of “stranger danger” so they were hesitant to knock on random doors. They tried doubling back to the address of the last student who was dropped off, but they were not sure which exact house or even street he lived on so they decided to try getting to the house of a friend who lived about half of a mile away from where they were dropped off. They crossed two major and busy streets (40 zones) and finally made it to the house to call us. We tried calling the board of education as well as the school but no one seems to know who to contact regarding the bus route, as well as the bigger issue of why did a bus driver act in such a vile and thoughtless manner!? He intimidated a 6 and 10 year old into getting off his bus in middle of a busy area a mile from their home…

The school principal tried calling the bus company the next day and the lady in charge told him that he should not call with issues like this and when he asked if the parents can call them to clarify, she started screaming at him at the top of her lungs that he better not giver her number out to any parent.

If only that were that were the end of the “story”!

The next day in the afternoon my wife drove to the school (not knowing if our children were on a bus or not) and was talking to the principal regarding this huge issue. He shared in her frustration and incredulity and told her he has no idea what the bus drivers issue is (as well as the bus company) but if she wants to ask him then he is sitting in his empty bus for the next half hour so she can maybe try to get to the bottom of things. She went over to the bus and stood by the open door and with a smile said “good afternoon, how are you?”, but the bus driver who was sitting in his seat failed to even acknowledge she was there. Determined to get to the bottom of this, she put on a smile once again and thinking he must not have heard her, she took one step up on the bottom stair of the bus in order to address him. The bus driver finally acknowledged her by putting on a face of undisguised hatred and barking out the words “get your foot off my bus”. Still trying to salvage the situation, my wife stepped back off the step and calmly and politely told him she just wanted to ask him regarding our children’s route and told him the street name. He again barked out “I do not do xxxx street” five times in succession louder each time as he said it. She then asked if there is a way she can get a copy of the bus route. His answer was a strong and curt “no”. Having had enough of the unbelievable chutzpah, she then asked for his name and he said “that’s none of your business”. We have his bus number but no one seems either to care, or organized enough to be able to follow up.

Suffice it to say, we are extremely disturbed and find it unnerving that such an individual is employed to drive children. Yes, there is a severe shortage, but please do NOT pull inmates from prison and residents of a psych ward to fill the gaps. I am shocked at the audacity of the driver as well as the lack of concern and vetting of the driver on the part of the bus company. We are not going to allow our children on a bus with that monster, and we have a general hesitancy of allowing them on any bus with this company until we hear a solid explanation as well as seeing action being taken. This bussing fiasco is severely affecting us financially and emotionally, BUT NOTHING is worth putting our children in harm’s way!

It is my hope that the appropriate officials read this (if indeed there are any) and take action accordingly. It is my hope that this will bring to attention and awareness to this issue so that no parent should trust the system fully. Yes, I am sure most bus drivers and bus companies are professional courteous and caring, both on an individual basis as well as a whole, but it is always worth asking and observing instead of assuming. Hopefully everyone else is having an easy time of it and everyone should have only good and safe experiences on the road.

I am not sure of the legal ramifications of releasing the bus company name as well as the bus number, but if TLS tells us we can do that then I will gladly provide it. Thank you.

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35 COMMENTS

  1. Wow! I sympathize with you, though I am not sure that anyone cares enough, or is capable of fixing the problems. 2 years ago we sat in traffic for 2 days to protest non-mandated students losing bussing. 2 years later my mandated children don’t have bussing and noone seems to care. I now suspect that the whole carpool protest was a ploy to ensure that the larger schools were taken care of. I cannot tell you how much stress the lack of bussing is causing my family.My wife and I work, and there is no way we can be on time with carpooling. There is no end in sight.

  2. Well, please don’t keep it a secret so that someone else’s kid can go on the bus with this lunatic…

    Actually its not so easy to get a bus license in NJ so they can’t just take anyone. That being said, I witnessed a bus driver screaming at a police officer a few weeks ago. Her bus was full of children.

  3. Why not publish the name of the bus company and any relevant information so that others will be aware of the monster? Legalities? I don’t believe there is an issue with legalities when dealing with our children’s safety. Please respond or publish. Thank you.

  4. You have to sue the bus company and board of ed. That will get you the help you need to resolve your problem. At the very least have your attorney call for you. ASAP. You can not wait. The children are in danger.

  5. I’m disgusted from this scenario. Why can’t we Lakewood parents hire a lawyer and make a class action lawsuit against the Lakewood board of ed. I’ve had enough driving 5 children both ways 5 days a week. When the weather starts getting harsh it will be unbearable!! Honestly Despicable!!!!

  6. If the state gave a ton of money to address the busing issue inLakewood I think they should be contacted to see what is going on with millions of tax dollars! They need to follow up on this ” investment” no parent or child should be treated like this, it is a disgrace!

  7. I have my boys in a small school and the same types of situations have occurred many times. There seems to be very little contact that the school has with the bus company. Certainly the school should have a contact person. Surprisingly, my girls are now attending Bais Faiga and the difference with the busing is night and day. Bais faiga will always know what is going on with each bus and it is such a large school! They have good contact with the bus companies and always have an answer for the parents. Sure, there are nicer bus drivers than others and there will always be some mishap with the routes from time to time, but they do not leave the parents in the dark. My son’s school on the other hand is always wiping their hands from dealing with the buses. It is very irresponsible. I too am very inconvenienced and have to drive 2x a day a few miles each way to the boys school but from the headaches we have had dealing with the bus drivers and the schools lack of involvement, this is safer. Many parents are leaving this school for many reasons but not caring about the child’s well being is a top reason to pull out.

  8. Maybe it’s time to do another 2 days or even a week of carpool and no bussing for anyone… till everything gets straightened out. Why should we be punished for a lack of bussing. Let the Township know that every child must be taken care of. All or none. If they can’t cover transportation then they will need to cover a cop at every intersection. Enough games. I understand that it costs. I understand that they are trying. But it costs us too. We are losing in many ways. Our time. Our jobs are suffering. Our children are suffering. Where are the benefits that we are entitled to? We pay taxes. Why are our children not taken care of? Would the board of Ed prefer to cover tuition for all of Lakewoods children? Because we are all eligible for schooling. Maybe it’s time to register all of Lakewood into public school. All public school children got bussing.

    We need answers. We deserve answers. We need more then we are working on it and very vague updates that don’t mean anything.

    Please help our children.

    Winter is here. What’s going to happen when it starts snowing and the roads are icy? How many accidents will occur because of the lack of bussing? Do we need to wait till there are injuries c”v?

  9. is this driver a new driver? or has he been doing it for a while? sounds like this horrible driver, Derek,who drove my son for a while.

  10. No end in sight is correct. Azzara stole our drivers for the public schools and god forbid they can drive for is. Especially since we the tax payers are fitting the bill.

  11. in regards to your issue you should file a police report. If it continues then file another report. In regards to bussing issue the only solution is to sue sue sue. Don’t get school involved, parents themselves should get together and sue.

  12. I sympathize with you as I am a parent of five children who rely on these busses as well. The main problem we have here is that we are not paying our fare share of taxes to the Lakewood township. There are those on the higher up that are not making enough money so they don’t feel they have to fight for us. If we would do what was done in Kiryas Yoel a number of years back we would have bussing and other programs that we all deserve.

    There was a new organization formed to address the bus issue. We had bus for a number of weeks with one of our children and tried to contact that office with no avail and not even getting a call back.

    I have lived in Lakewood for over 30 years, and K”NH it has grown with leaps and bounds. No one had enough sense to put the brakes on the construction until the infrastructure was built, as that is what is generally built first.

    It unfortunately is just a dollars and cents issue, and until we put a stop to it as a community, nothing is going to change. The more we pay the less we are going to get unless we all band together make our voices heard.

    In regards to the bus Co. and the drivers name, it is my feeling if you publicize it the next time the driver will think twice before he does something like that. If you don’t publicize it, he may not even get reprimanded for his actions.

  13. Welcome to the life of out-of-towners where we don’t have free bus transportation and parents carpool together. Definitely much safer albeit less convenient. That’s the price you pay for safe children.

  14. I have similar stories where my 5 year old had to walk a block alone on a busy street
    Or my kids were left until 5:30 till the bus showed up
    Even now my kids are dropped off on the very busy and dangerous cross street

  15. Poshter Yid, it is not the principle of the “small schools” fault. Like many others on here have noted, the bus companies and this new arrangement was made to satisfy the needs of the larger schools.

    The larger schools have all the power and the bus companies respond to them. The principles of the smaller schools, like the parents, are ignored.

  16. So my children have a bus stop but its a mile from my house and in one of the most dangerous intersections.

    No traffic light no sidewalk just cars driving 60 miles an hour.

    Unfortunately this probably wont get corrected till we have a terrible tragedy and then im sure people would stand up and get rid of this mess.

  17. Bus drivers can be very scary!!When I was in highschool, I was the last girl on the bus and my bus driver actually asked me if he can pick me up at 8:00 in the evening for a date. I told my school and he was fired. This busdriver has got to go!!!

  18. What has happened to the millions of dollars from the state , for transportation ? That was supposed to take care of the private schools transportation . It seems bussing is worse than ever . I feel for the parents that haven’t gotten the bussing they were promised . Their lives have been turned upside down. I don’t see any thing getting better with all the building going on. Lakewood has turned driving into a nightmare!

  19. My girls dont hsve bussing and I sit in trsffic over an hour each way every morning and afternoon my baby that comes with me cant sit so long every day its so stressful watching him , its after succos whats going on!!! We demand answers

  20. I’m not a prophet or the son of a prophet but the way this is looking the Lakewooders will end up moving out because of the frustration and all the New Yorkers will be moving in. We live in Lakewood approximately 5 1/2 miles from the school and we and our neighbors who live further than us well don’t have bussing.

  21. According to LSTA’s post on TLS, they say “for a quick response please email [email protected]” ….I don’t know if this will help or not but perhaps you’ll get the attention of someone who is supposed to be on top of the bus companies and their routes.

  22. My kids and 2 neighbours ,4 little girls between the ages of 6 and 8 had to cross a majir street because they were dropped off at the wrong stop.they told the bus driver but apparently she also said: no I’m not going further!!
    And in the morning we do have a bus driver and I’m very thankful of the convenience but she’s very nasty and my 1rst and 2nd graders are so nervous,they’re scared of her!!!

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