GLOUCESTER COUNTY, NJ (CBS) — More students are heading back to school this week, and Deptford faces fresh criticism over the way the district transportation plan. Parents said they are still waiting for bus information from the New Jersey School District.
Candice Elsesser’s three children will be attending schools in Deptford Township this Thursday, but the family is facing challenges with the district transportation plan.
With a senior, a junior and a 3-year-old starting kindergarten, Elsesser said they typically like to complete their morning routine at least a week before school starts. However, she still hasn’t received any crucial information from school officials.
“There’s no bus number there,” she said. “It tells them which bus to get on. There are other townships passing by. That number is so important to the children.”
In addition to the lack of bus numbers, Elsesser said her daughter’s stop is quite far away, which is a major problem since she cannot speak.
“A 30-minute walk for a 3-year-old is ridiculous,” Elsesser said.
Several other parents contacted CBS News Philadelphia and said their students also did not know the bus numbers, times and locations.
This follows Recent Deptford Township School District Decision to roll back a plan to cut busing for the 2024-2025 school year, a measure that would have saved more than $1.6 million annually.
Superintendent Kevin Kanauss sent a statement to CBS News Philadelphia saying:
“There were unforeseen and unexpected errors uploading our bus pass into our Student Information System for parents/guardians. The Transportation and Technology departments are working as quickly as they can (and have been doing so all holiday weekend) to load all student information into our Student Information System from our transportation software to fix the bus passes and stops for the community. All information was corrected and entered today and bus numbers and times will be updated overnight in the Student Information System for all students receiving transportation, as they have in the past for grades K-12.
We are working to create more safe and efficient stops in the district for the families who have reached out, and we hope to have these resolved as soon as possible.
I want to thank the community for their patience as we work through this and I am very sorry for the anxiety this is causing.
If that happens, it would be a great relief for parents.
“It’s very frustrating because most of us parents work. How can we work when… We can’t plan properly for our kids,” Elsesser said.
