Lexington County, SC (WLTX)- Understaffed and under equipped is the way one school district describes their school bus situation, leaving elementary kids waiting outside for school to start.
Meadow Glen Elementary School starts at 7:40 a.m., but their first bus pickup is at 5:50 a.m. The school district says that's because they're having to accommodate for cuts they're received from the Department of Education.
The move has left children outside, waiting for the school doors to open and families very upset.
Jill Messer has two girls attending Meadow Glen Elementary. While she's pleased with the education her kids are receiving there, she says the recent bus changes really puts a burden on their family time.
Messer now has to get her girls up at 5 a.m. to get them on the bus, "that means I have to get them in bed and asleep by 7 p.m." said Messer. "That leaves them very little time to do the extracurricular activities they love like dance and sports and church."
Not to mention dinner, homework and family time.
On Friday, school bus drivers gave students a letter to take home notifying parents that bus pick up times were changing as soon as Monday.
This parent inconvenience goes much further than the early pick up times, Lexington School District One says to make the situation better, they need at least 20 more buses from the Department of Education.
"At this time, the district is, quite frankly, understaffed and under equipped. The Department of Education removed 14 of our buses and replaced them with smaller capacity buses (less than 78 students). In addition, the district believes it needs at least 20 more buses (a conservative estimate) in order to adequately serve its students and their families," wrote Mary Beth Hill in a statement from the district.
To which the Department of Education responded, "Of the 121 regular route buses, 14 have been retired from use this year. 6 are currently undergoing service. The district is currently utilizing 20 of the 23 available spares. Districts across the state are in need of bus drivers so that could be part of the Lexington 1 issue. We have ordered just under 500 new buses for use statewide. That order will be fulfilled in October and buses allotted to districts shortly thereafter."