First Student: District Officials Say Performance Unacceptable

School district officials respond to First Student's poor service and even worse communication with parents. 3 On Your Side's Randi Hempel asks what's being done to make sure these poor practices don't continue.

Savannah-Chatham Schools chief operation officer, Otis Brock, was out of the office to have surgery when a mother experienced what no parent wants to experience, the fear of not knowing where her child is and if he is out of harms way. When she called First Student after her child didn't arrive home, Laura Schexnayder was told the bus was back in the bus yard and that all students were dropped off. In fact, the children were never even picked up from May Howard Elementary School.

Schexnayder asked for a supervisor to call her back and nobody did. She then contacted the district's transportation director, Cedric Burse, but didn't hear back from him either. Finally, she sent an email to First Student and district officials. That was on November 6th. Nobody responded. That's when she called me and I went to district officials who say there's no excuse and that there should have been a response within 24 hours.

"I have spoken with the mother and apologized for the lack of that follow up from district staff and more specifically from first student staff I for one am very disappointed in the lack of follow up that took place and even when there was some follow up maybe the lack of some compassion from some first student staff," explains Otis Brock, chief operations officer for SCCPSS.

I also spoke with Schexnayder's school board representative, Greg Sapp. Sapp says it's deplorable. He says the school board does not run the transportation department or First Student, so he forwarded the email to the appropriate individuals. He says that the board is going to have to look at the performance of the bus company and reconsider the district running transportation for children again. (First Student's 3 year contract with the district is up at the end of this year.)

For more on Brock's and Sapp's interviews, watch the attached video.