MILWAUKEE — After months of frustration, one Milwaukee Public Schools parent says she’s had enough.
She says the school bus doesn’t pick her child up on a regular basis and he’s suffering as a result.
“Every unexcused absence that my child has is because of the bus,” said Deborah Watson.
Deborah Watson’s 7-year-old son Deston is a first grader at Hopkins Lloyd Elementary School.
She says since the start of the school year, he has missed close to ten days because the bus hasn’t shown up.
“My child, I will say, twice a week, don't get on a bus because they don't come. They don't communicate. And when I do reach out to them, they're answering the phone with an attitude, and they're hanging up on me. I don't know what to do,” said Watson.
Deborah works overnights and says she depends on the bus to get her kids to school.
Without it, she says the nearly mile and a half walk is almost impossible.
“Before I lost access to a vehicle, my kids’ attendance was perfect. Never missed a day and ever since then, where I had to depend on the bus, his attendance is horrible, it sucks,” said Watson.
While missing school is frustrating, Deborah says her anger is even bigger than that.
Deston relies on special education for his speech.
Without getting regular lessons, Deborah says her son is starting to struggle.
“When he comes home after missing a day or two of school because I didn't have a way to get to him there, he comes home with a packet this thick of homework. Come on! A seven-year-old has to get this done within the next day? That's pressure right there,” said Watson.
The bus company, Safeway, is one of the providers used by MPS.
We reached out to the school district for answers.
They said they couldn’t make someone available for an interview, but sent us this statement:
“In the month of January, the bus you are asking about arrived at the stop in question every school day within one or two minutes of its scheduled time, except for on two occasions. On both of these occasions, the City of Milwaukee experienced weather events.”
They go on to say that MPS buses are run by independent contractors and if they are told of any issues with their routes, they will work directly with the company to fix the issue.
Deborah says this problem goes back much farther than just this month and she wants to know something is being done to change that.
“If you tell us to have our scholars in school on time every day for the best learning experience that they can get, make sure you have all your ducks in a row, because at the end of the day, if I signed up for my kids to catch the bus, that's what they're supposed to do - catch the bus,” said Watson.
It’s about time to watch on your time. Stream local news and weather 24/7 by searching for “TMJ4” on your device.
Available for download on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and more.
