More CPS parents contact I-Team about school bus delays
ABC7 I-Team Investigation
CHICAGO (WLS) -- After Chicago Public School parents turned to the I-Team about school bus delays, now parents from another school are coming forward.
"He normally gets off the bus about 4:40. He got off the bus about 6 o'clock," said Sarah Johnson, parent.
Johnson reached out to the I-Team Tuesday, saying her 7th grade son's bus was an hour and a half late last night and her son Liam was 20 minutes late getting to school.
"Nervewracking, frustrated, scared because I also don't know where my son is," Johnson said.
Liam is a Whitney Young academic student on the Near West Side. His pick up and drop off stop is Clissold School in West Morgan Park. And on Monday, she says her son's bus started picking up and dropping off kids at Pritzker Elementary in Wicker Park.
"We got a text from one of the kids on the bus with him saying we are at Pritzker. None of us knew what was happening, panic ensued with the kids," Johnson said.
"To have this unpredictability is very difficult when you are waiting for one when you can be picking up another," said Bill Johnson, parent.
The Johnsons and other Whitney Young parents tell the I-Team their bus started the Pritzker stop on Monday.
The same day, CPS told the I-Team it was adding a Pritzker route to help alleviate a problem we exposed - claims that Pritzker children were late to class. A letter from the principal to transportation leaders said that "some of our students are on buses for over two hours."
Parents said they believe the overall problem with delays is due to a new staggered bus schedules program for the district, which is facing a $1.1 billion deficit.
On the phone, a CPS spokesperson said the problem with Whitney Young delays due to that added Pritzker route was corrected Tuesday. The Johnsons also said it was fixed.
In its original statement about the Pritzker bus delays,CPS said the school faces route challenges drawing children from across the city. CPS also says overall on time performance for CPS buses was up 7 percent from last year, but it would continue to make improvements by adding routes.
