First Student School Bus Issues: Officials Finally Respond to Mom

Imagine being at work and calling home at 5 p.m. to find that your 10-year old never arrived home after school. That's exactly what happened to one Wilmington Island mother several weeks ago.

"I called First Student and they said the bus is already back in the yard, I said well my son's not home, they said well let me double check, they came back on the phone and said yes ma'am the bus is back in the yard, all of the kids have been dropped off. I immediately freaked out thinking something had happened to my son the 8 houses from the bus stop and to our house," explains mom, Laura Schexnayder.

So what happened? The bus never actually picked the children up in the first place. So, mom called First Student and the school district, asking for a supervisor to call her back, with answers. Nobody called her back, so she sent an email. No one answered it...so she gave up on them and called "3 on your side."

"Angry but at the same time very concerned for our kids,” Laura explains how she feels.

That's how mom Laura Schexnayder feels about the issues with her son, Dylan Thomas' bus.

"First Student has a job to do and they're not holding up their end of the bargain. You know they've got a contract with the board of education and in tern the board's not holding up their end either. You know, somebody should have called me," says Laura.

First Student contract manager, Randy Samples, says they were adjusting routes and had a breakdown in communication between the drivers who were supposed to pick up the students.

"She didn't hear from First Student until I got involved about this whole situation. What can be better done on your end to one notify parents and two to communicate with them effectively?”

"We have a process that should have taken place but obviously fell through the cracks again. We should call everybody back within a 24 hour process. We have logs that we log in every parent phone call, concern from the school and things like that & so we should call back within 24 hours. No excuse on this part. We just dropped the ball on this one,” explains Randy Samples, contract manager for First Student.

Chief operations officer for Savannah-Chatham Schools, Otis Brock, was out of the office having surgery. He expected that those left in charge would handle any concerns.

"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,”

Mom tells me that the bus was 1/2 hour late yesterday morning, but that they were prompt in bringing Dylan home.

District 4 school board representative, Greg Sapp, says if First Student isn't going to do the job well, they may have to look at another company or consider bringing the job back in house.