LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — A Las Vegas mother is demanding answers from the Clark County School District after she says her son and other students were left stranded at their bus stop on the first day of school.
WATCH | Shellye Leggett talked with the parent, who shared her concerns and frustrations:
Ashley Geekie said her 14-year-old waited with several other students for hours Monday morning as temperatures climbed into the high 90s.
"His bus stop is at Valley High School. That's a little over 1.5 miles from where we live," Geekie said.
The students were waiting for their bus to Advanced Technologies Academy, also known as A-Tech High School.
"They're standing in the heat with absolutely no shade, and then the doors close to Valley at 8:30, so they don't have access to restrooms or water," Geekie said. "They're just standing in the heat waiting for a bus with no updates and unsure on if the bus is even going to come or not or what to do."
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Geekie said her son eventually had to take a rideshare to campus after already missing multiple classes on his first day of high school.
"The first day, my husband picked him up and brought him home, and he took an Uber to school, and it cost me $21 after tip. He arrived at school at 10:35," Geekie said.
She said he technically missed his third class as well, as he walked in during the final moments.
Geekie said the transportation problems continued Tuesday. She said her husband notified A-Tech school leaders that the bus didn't arrive, with a replacement bus showing up 18 minutes after his phone call.
"That's kind of ridiculous in my opinion anyway because we need to know what's going on with our children in the time that it's happening," Geekie said. "I should be able to call a number. I should be able to email somebody, and with transportation going on, they should be able to email or call and answer and give me that information."
Geekie said an alert was eventually issued on the transportation app stating the route was 120 minutes late. Her son ended up riding an electric scooter for 40 minutes just to get to class.
The CCSD Deputy Superintendent of Business Operations provided this statement in response:
"Over the past year, CCSD has been piloting an upgraded transportation routing and scheduling system to better serve our community, and the District transitioned to the new platform in June. Transitioning to a new platform for the nation's largest district-operated school bus fleet is a complex undertaking, and we acknowledge that we have faced routing and scheduling challenges during the first two days of the school year."
Officials apologized for the disruptions and said they are working to improve performance.
Geekie said she is not risking another delay and is sending her son to school on the city bus until the problem is resolved.
"He has to take two buses in order to get to school, but I feel like that would be a more reliable transportation at this point than the buses provided from the school," Geekie said. "I don't know what else to do at this point."
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