Cranky Buses Create Cranky Parents as Winter Alert Comes Too Late for Some

The first bitterly cold weather of the school year raised the temperatures of some Rockwood School District parents whose children were left standing at the bus stop waiting for their bus to arrive.

In some cases, the bus was 30 to 45 minutes late.

"My daughter needs to be out at the bus stop at 6:50 a.m." said Robin Camp in a comment on the Rockwood district's website. "Calling at 7:15 to tell parents that they should be prepared for a long wait in this cold is too late."

Rockwood uses an automated alert system called AlertNow to inform parents about weather-related delays and cancellations. It also posted the following notification on the district website:

"Due to the low temperatures this morning, many of the First Student buses are running late.  The buses are running, but they will arrive late to the bus stop.  Parents, please take the necessary steps to prepare your children for a delayed bus.  Depending on the bus and the route, some buses could be delayed 30-45 minutes."

"This notification did not come out until 7:20 a.m. which is 20 minutes after her bus is supposed to be there and 10 minutes before school starts, said Melanie Svoboda in a website comment. "Rockwood definitely dropped the ball on this one. They knew the weather was cold yesterday and should have had crews in there no later than 5 a.m. to work on getting them started."

The fact is, workers from First Student, the company that provides bus service for Rockwood, was on the scene before 2 a.m. to begin the process of starting its buses, but some proved difficult to get started and running.

"We have had some hiccups, but the majority of the buses were running and were on time," said Marilyn Brock, contract manager at First Student. "Our people went above and beyond to get the buses running."

Brock said the routes most affected Monday were those for the middle schools, such as in Fenton, where classes start at 7:30 a.m. The early start puts students at bus stops as early as 6:15 a.m. First student uses 159 buses to serve the Rockwood schools.

Kim Cranston, Rockwood's director of communications, said the district spread the word about late buses shortly after it received a call from First Student at 6:30 a.m.

"We let everyone know as quickly as we could," Cranston said. "First Student was experiencing problems getting the buses started and keeping them started.

Brock said the call from First Student was made before 6:30 a.m.

"We put in a phone call to the district well before that," she said.

Brock said the frigid weather was the villian Monday morning, partially because the buses had been idle over the weekend.

"I'm having people spend the night to get the buses running," she said. "But when the temperature plummets like that, it's difficult."

Brock said crews will come in earlier on weekends when there is an indication that Monday morning weather will be a problem.

Cranston said the district will respond directly to parents who have problems or suggestions about the district's severe weather procedures.

"Anyone who calls or e-mails directly, we will respond directly," she said.

Cranston's e-mail address is cranstonkim@rockwood.k12.mo.us. Her phone number is 636-733-1140.