First days of WISD bus consolidation marked by frustration and long waits for some

“It’s a huge parental concern,” she said. “Can you transport my son? When you have a bus driver who cares and has common sense to get from Point A to Point B (this doesn’t happen).”

Students board a school bus in Ypsilanti in this file photo.

Parish's situation may have been the most severe of the problems that occurred during the first couple days of the newly consolidated bus system between the Ann Arbor, Willow Run and Ypsilanti school districts. It was business as usual in some areas as the Washtenaw Intermediate School District-controlled buses picked up and dropped off students. 

Still, long delays frustrated parents and administrators alike, most notably in Ypsilanti.

Parish’s son is in the third grade and attends Estabrook Elementary, just 10 minutes from her home. She said when she confronted the bus driver — who had previously driven her son last year as a substitute — he offered few answers for the delay.

“I asked, ‘What were you thinking?’ and he said, 'He wasn’t on my list,' and he asked my son, but he didn’t know,” Parish said. “But he’s 8.”

And Tuesday morning, Parish said she was forced to take her sons to school when neither of their buses showed up. She said her younger son was dropped off from Perry Elementary with no issues Tuesday afternoon. 

Chizell Fuller’s son attends Ypsilanti High School and didn't see a bus arrive at his stop in either of the first two days of school. Fuller said she went to the WISD’s website before school started to check where the bus stop was in her apartment complex, and no bus ever came. She said she checked the same site later in the day and saw the bus stop had been changed to a different point in the complex.

After waiting for 25 minutes Wednesday morning, Fuller gave up and drove her son to school.

“It’s ridiculous,” she said. “I understand they have to save money, but the bus just doesn’t show up?”

Emma Jackson, a spokeswoman for Ypsilanti Public Schools, acknowledged the district had issues on Tuesday and said the administration was working with the WISD to fix them.

“We have had some areas that we definitely need to look at,” Jackson said. “Right now, reconfiguring is our top priority, and we’re working to make transportation work the way it should. We are addressing the concerns.”

One complication in Ypsilanti is the district’s schools of choice program. The scattering of students around different areas of the district caused confusion during the new system's first days.

Brian Marcel, assistant superintendent for finance for the WISD, said the complex routing in Ypsilanti was a problem Tuesday. He said the WISD didn't receive complete student data from the district before the start of school.

“There were various glitches in getting kids to the school they go to,” he said. “Ypsilanti has complicated routing, that’s the schools of choice piece, and we’re trying to get kids from all over the city to whichever school they go to. It does lend itself to complication.”

Marcel said the WISD is working with the district to complete the student data, which was slowed by a number of late registrations. He said the glitches should be worked out by the end of the week.

Jackson said the WISD's system was formed over a very short period of time, and patience is needed to get the kinks worked out.

“The WISD was given a short time frame to design and execute this program, they’re doing the best they can,” she said. “They’re taking on a whole new program, and it’s a lot of energy and work that goes into making sure students are transported in a timely fashion. We’re just trying to work with the WISD to make this run more smoothly and effectively.”

The problems weren’t unique to Ypsilanti - parents in Ann Arbor also reported transportation delays.

Kirsti Hilbert, who has a daughter starting first grade at Wines Elementary, said her daughter got off to school Tuesday morning with no delays. But she and her husband waited nearly 40 minutes for the bus to come after school.

She said she thought it was important her daughter get the first-day-of-school experience of riding the bus, which is why she decided not to drive her daughter to and from school.

“We waited and waited, and finally my husband decided it was crazy and left to go pick her up,” she said. “As soon as he left, the bus arrived, a good 40 minutes late.”

Hilbert said the bus was about 10 minutes late Wednesday morning and arrived at Wines after the bell rang to begin the day.

But Vanessa Clarke, who has two children attending Ann Arbor Open School, said her children's bus has not been delayed at all.

"That's pretty unheard of in the first few days of school," she said. "And, especially unexpected given the construction on the route."

Clarke said the route her children take is one of the longest in the district and, if transportation service continues in this way, she has no complaints about consolidation. She said it may take a little longer to get a real sense of the change.

Liz Margolis, spokeswoman for Ann Arbor Public Schools, called the delays “unacceptable” and said officials are keeping a close eye on certain routes. She said the district is still attempting to sort out whether problems are being caused by bus consolidation or are simply beginning-of-the-year problems.

“We expect that over the next couple days, these issues will be ironed out,” she said, noting special education routes were taking longer than expected.

Margolis said construction around Ann Arbor was a major factor Tuesday morning. She said administrators are reaching out to city officials to figure out better ways to get around current road projects.

“Construction killed us,” she said. “It was a big, uncontrollable nightmare.”

Kyle Feldscher covers K-12 education for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at kylefeldscher@annarbor.com.