HOUSTON, Texas – A family is frustrated after they say Houston Independent School District left their child without a way to school on the first day of class.
Edwin and Kimberly Haller shared that their daughter, who is starting first grade at Briarmeadow Charter School on Monday, had to take three different METRO buses to get to school because they couldn’t reach anyone at HISD to find out which bus she was supposed to take.
“It’s very frustrating. I have anxiety problems so I get really frustrated. So it’s very frustrating to have to go through this and not know what bus your child is going to be riding,” Kimberly said.
The family, who lives in southwest Houston, said they had to wake their daughter up extra early, walk to the METRO bus stop, and then catch three buses to get her to school, which is located on Richmond.
“Hopefully, we will be able to work the issues out with the bus schedule because I don’t know what’s going on,” Edwin said.
Unfortunately, the Haller family isn’t the only one with this issue on the first day back. On Sunday KPRC 2 reported that about 700 students were still being assigned bus stops and routes.
The district said they assigned more than 17,000 students to bus routes this school year, and those who were not were supposed to be able to call the district’s transportation helpline between the hours of 4:30 a.m. and 7 p.m., but the Hallers said no one answered the hotline.
“HISD could do a better job answering the phone, I believe that’s the most important thing. If the school would answer the phone and give us information, that would be more helpful to everybody because if they don’t pick up the phone, we are all lost,” Edwin said.
The district said if your child has not been assigned a bus route Monday, they will be able to get on a bus at any stop or route serving their school and the driver will take them to campus.
“Any student who has not been assigned a route may get on a bus at any stop or route serving their campus. Drivers will pick students up and drop them off even if they are not assigned to a route or stop. The district expects all students to be assigned a permanent stop within 72 hours of their entry into the transportation assignment system,” the district said.
Families who need more information about their bus stop can call their campus or one of Houston ISD’s transportation services helplines for assistance between 4:30 a.m. and 7 p.m. at one of the numbers below, based on the first number of their route:
1 – Barnett Terminal: (713) 845-5022
2 – Butler Terminal: (713) 726-2100
3 – Central Terminal: (713) 676-9432
4 – Northwest Terminal: (713) 613-3049
Families can also call the Transportation Customer Service main phone number at (713) 556-5963.