CINCINNATI — Parents are taking their frustrations over ongoing bus problems with Cincinnati Public Schools directly to the Board of Education, with some saying they've been dealing with late buses since the start of the school year.
Last week, we waited 33 minutes with Kelly Morris, who reached out to me after her non-verbal son with autism was denied a ride home from Covedale Elementary School. The bus has been arriving late ever since.
"I sent letters to multiple officials. To date, I haven't received no response from the Board of Education," said Morris.
"The bus driver is doing the best that she can, but her being in this van by herself is unacceptable," another parent told board members.
One community member referenced WCPO's previous reporting on transportation issues, saying he saw the story about an "autistic student denied a bus ride home" and called the situation unacceptable.
When Kim Lewis reached out to WCPO about similar problems with her granddaughters' bus being 30 to 40 minutes late since school started, I went to their stop to see the issue firsthand. During my visit, the bus arrived just eight minutes late.
Lewis mentioned she couldn't set up the MyStop bus tracking app that WCPO had previously reported on, so I worked to help her get connected.
WATCH: We help a Cincinnati Public Schools family access the bus tracking app
We encountered the same issue that many parents face. When we tried logging into the FOCUS system to get her bus information for the MyStop app, we couldn't log in.
"This is the challenge parents are dealing with right now," Lewis said, noting that the system had changed this year.
To solve the problem, we called Dater Montessori School, where Lewis' granddaughters attend. After about 40 minutes of troubleshooting, we successfully got Lewis logged into MyStop.
The receptionists shared a CPS Focus hotline, 513-363-0688, for parents and guardians to contact in case they run into the same challenge.
"I really appreciate y'all," Lewis said after getting access to the tracking system.
But after reconnecting with Lewis, she shared that her granddaughter's buses were late and she wasn't able to track their location on the app.
CPS said any parent in need of assistance with the MyStop app can contact the Call Center at 513-363-RIDE (7433).
