As the new academic year takes off, St. Louis Public Schools (SLPS) is grappling with some serious transport issues, leading to a bunch of students without a legit way to get to school or get back home. Three whole days into this school year and many parents are voicing frustration while wrestling to sort reliable pick-up for their children, chiefly those with special needs.

Phone lines: More Silent than a Sleeping Baby

Take parents like Kia Miller and ShaKara Green for example, rhetorical question: how long should one person have to wait for someone to pick up a phone? From their experience, the SLPS transportation office seems to be doing its utmost best to avoid contact. Endless rings or an overstuffed voicemail box greets parents attempting to secure transportation for their children. “When you think someone would be there on the other end of this number, it’s downright sad that no one picks up,” stated Miller, resonating with a sentiment familiar among many frustrated souls.

Both Miller and Green share the unnecessary burden of having special needs children who have yet to see the headlights of a school transport vehicle. Green, the mother of a 6-year-old enthusiast of schooling, sketches a relatable picture with “Every day he’s overwhelmed asking, ‘Am I going to school today?’ It’s hard to look into his eyes and answer, ‘I don’t know, buddy. ‘” Powerful stuff.

Coming up Next: Safety Nightmares

Apart from communication blackout, concrete safety concerns pile up due to the emergency transportation plan that SLPS has cobbled together. The district is pulling together whatever they can from 19 different sources including buses, taxis and shuttles for student transport. But parents’ report and online rumors suggest that the reliability of these services could be written up as a stand-up comedy sketch.

A number of parents are flapping a red flag on the condition of the vehicles and questionable practices by the drivers. Think taxi without proper signage, reports of a taxi driver smoking like a chimney with kids in the car or bolder ones running red lights and weaving through traffic. Plus, points for extra thrill? Not when children are forced to share seats due to lack of seating capacity, I guess not.

Families on the Edge

For families like Green’s, the transport problem is more than a simple inconvenience—it’s like an avalanche threatening to wipe out their children’s education and personal development. To Green, who might have to homeschool her 6-year-old son if transportation is kept on hold for too long: “He needs social interaction with peers his age. If school doesn’t happen, then what?”

On the other side of this sad coin you have Miller, who has turned to Uber for her son’s school journey, an option that fast tracks her towards bankruptcy. As she puts it: “It’s costing pretty pennies. ” The financial stress continues to bear down on this family.

District’s Steps Too Small for Leap

The chaos deepens when you consider that SLPS was left to hunt individual vendor contracts when their main bus provider, Missouri Central dropped their contract last spring. To add fuel to fire, vendors backed out, leaving more than 1,000 families stranded during the weekend and district peeps running around attempting damage control.

In recent press meetups, Acting Superintendent Borishade nodded at the hardship with a figure: just 72% attendance on the first day of school—a laugh track taken straight from last year. Even though steps like adding extra buses on key routes are being taken by the likes of Bi-State Development, it’s like sticking a Band-Aid on a gunshot wound. Parents don’t seem convinced and are pushing for more than assurances and ‘quick fixes’.

Future Ahead

With the transport fluster clouding the horizon, SLPS is feeling the heat to churn out lasting resolves; education isn’t a joke and safety sure isn’t either. Some are even chattering about the possibility that SLPS might be better off with its very own unique transport system, lord save us from more vendor dependency.

In the current fog, parents like Miller and Green are left hanging. Their children have a right to education, but they’re blinking into the shadows just attempting to fix the school commute. Chances of reaching someone who can answer their direct questions? Let’s just say it’s lightly snowing in hell and leave it at that.