最新杏吧原创

ST. LOUIS 鈥� Only one out of three of Robin Lovings Brown鈥檚 children were picked up for school Monday as the transportation crisis in 最新杏吧原创 Public Schools made for a chaotic morning.

鈥淲hy do we have to go through this?鈥� Lovings Brown asked. 鈥淭he kids are stressed. The parents are stressed. All of this is a mess.鈥�

It鈥檚 been a scramble at SLPS for months after primary bus vendor Missouri Central canceled its contract with the district. A mix of buses, taxis and rideshares from 19 different vendors plus Metro city buses were expected to deliver students to school.

Attendance on Monday was 72% of projected enrollment, acting Superintendent Millicent Borishade said at a news conference. That means about 5,300 students did not make it to school.

When asked what she would say to disappointed parents, Borishade said, 鈥淚 stand with them. It should be better, and we鈥檙e working to make it better.鈥�

On Monday, multiple yellow buses from the largest vendor First Student were seen dropping off one to three passengers at schools. For many others, the bus never came. Taxi services seemed to be more reliable, although not always on time.

As many as 1,600 high school students were offered MetroBus passes, but fewer than 200 rode public transportation to school Monday, according to operator Bi-State Development. Several parents previously told the Post-Dispatch that they felt uncomfortable with the arrangement.

Lovings Brown got off to a good start when Ayvah, 11, was picked up at 6:03 a.m. at home in the Hyde Park neighborhood by a taxi minivan. The driver said he was assigned to take six kids to Busch Middle School, 9 miles away in 最新杏吧原创 Hills.

Amaya, 15, was supposed to be picked up by a First Student bus at 7:20 a.m. for the trip to Collegiate School of Medicine & Bioscience near Tower Grove Park. Lovings Brown called the company when the bus was due to arrive, and a dispatcher said it was coming in 20 minutes. One hour later, she ordered an Uber for the teenager, who would be at least half an hour late to school.

Finally Aden, 5, waited in vain for the bus to take him to the first day of kindergarten at Stix Early Childhood Center in the Forest Park Southeast neighborhood. Lovings Brown called another Uber to take Aden to school and then drop her off at work at Gateway 180 Homeless Services. Lovings Brown spent at least $50 for the rideshares.

鈥淚鈥檓 all for making sure my kids get their education, but I鈥檓 in a crisis and trying to pay out-of-pocket is hard,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 have the funds, but we鈥檙e going to make it happen.鈥�

Lovings Brown, who is board president of the Old North Restoration Group, said she loves the SLPS schools where her children excel in academics and extracurriculars. She just wants to know they have transportation so she can 鈥渓ook forward to continuing to be a proud mom.鈥�

At McKinley Classical Leadership Academy in south 最新杏吧原创, eighth grader Arthur Bickers arrived in a white minivan taxi five minutes after classes began at the magnet school. He hopped out of the backseat in a rush to the middle school鈥檚 entrance, finding it had already been locked.

Arthur said he鈥檇 normally ride the school bus, but the ride in the van was 鈥減retty enjoyable,鈥� even though he felt a little crowded with his 鈥渞eally long legs.鈥�

鈥淚t鈥檚 a little strange,鈥� Arthur said. 鈥淚 got lucky. I鈥檓 the second kid to get picked up, so (the driver) was pretty on time for me. For a lot of the other kids, it was later.鈥�

About 10 minutes earlier, Tiearies Thompson had just finished following his daughter, a sixth grader, on her route to school in a third-party minivan. Thompson trailed the van in his own car, and he planned to do the same for his youngest child, a fifth grader at Betty Wheeler Classical Junior Academy.

鈥淚 need to know they鈥檙e going to get there safely,鈥� Thompson said.

His youngest child is supposed to take a First Student bus to Betty Wheeler, 鈥渂ut we鈥檒l see,鈥� Thompson said.

鈥淓verybody is in this constant state of not knowing what鈥檚 going on and figuring out what鈥檚 next,鈥� he said.

Mecca Baker said she got a letter on Friday notifying her that her son, Shawn Baker, a fourth grader at Wheeler, would no longer be using a rideshare company called HopSkipDrive.

The district had 鈥渇ound a bus,鈥� Baker said, and Shawn would wait on a corner nearby their house for it to arrive by 8:49 a.m.

Only by 9:10 a.m., the bus didn鈥檛 show. Baker decided to give up on the bus and drive her son to school. Normally, she would already have been at her IT job.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a little chaotic, but we鈥檙e optimistic,鈥� Baker said.

At Columbia Elementary in the Jeff-Vander-Lou neighborhood, several parents and grandparents walked their students to school.

Two First Student buses transported a total of four kids. One unmarked Ford F-150 pickup with an 鈥淪LPS Transportation鈥� sign on its dashboard dropped off three students.

Columbia was one of three schools Tangina Branch had to take her kids to on Monday morning. She also made stops at Vashon, Gateway STEM, and Central Visual and Performing Arts high schools all within the span of one hour.

Branch was more than an hour late to work and said she鈥檚 worried about what she鈥檒l do after school.

鈥淚鈥檒l have to leave work to get them,鈥� Branch said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 horrible. A lot of kids are going to miss the first day of school because a lot of parents don鈥檛 have transportation.鈥�

Tauna Cowin鈥檚 10-year-old daughter missed school because the bus didn鈥檛 come to take her to Madison Elementary. Her son鈥檚 school bus also didn鈥檛 show up, so he took two Metro buses to Soldan High.

鈥淭his is crazy,鈥� Cowin said. 鈥淲e鈥檒l see how the rest of the week plays out.鈥�

Too many schools?

Transportation issues aren鈥檛 unique to SLPS. A national school bus driver shortage has led to the service cancellations at schools across the country.

What鈥檚 different about 最新杏吧原创 is the magnet school system, which means more kids need transportation across the city than can walk to neighborhood schools. The city鈥檚 30 charter schools, which are tuition-free but independent from SLPS, further complicate the landscape. Buses from charters Lift for Life and Confluence Academies were seen passing through the same neighborhoods as the SLPS buses and taxis.

It all adds up to the challenge of running about 100 schools for 28,000 students in 最新杏吧原创, when similar-sized districts have half the number of schools.

Shortly after 6 a.m., Gladys Epps, 14, and Tyrell Sawyer, 11, were standing at a MetroBus stop off Kingshighway Boulevard in the Kingsway West neighborhood of 最新杏吧原创, waiting for a bus to take them to Kairos Academies charter school.

Sirens from police vehicles speeding by blared while crickets chirped in knee-high weeds behind them. A man slept on the bus stop鈥檚 bench.

Tyrell said he used to take the school bus but started to take Metro last year because his bus rarely showed. Gladys said she would rather take a school bus.

Metro has 鈥渁 lot of creeps,鈥� she said. 鈥淏eing on the bus by myself as a girl without my parent, it鈥檚 just different.鈥�

After school, some students had a hard time finding their way home.

Laith Altamimi, 14, walked up to the nearest Metro stop confused. He said he had never ridden the bus before, and he wasn鈥檛 sure where the bus that stopped nearest Gateway STEM, his new school, would go.

鈥淚鈥檓 just trying to find a way to get home,鈥� he said. 鈥淢y dad鈥檚 busy with work.鈥�

Laith put his address into Google Maps on his phone. It told him the nearest bus stop he needed was a 10 minute walk up Kingshighway to Manchester Avenue. Then, from a second stop, another 10-minute walk in the heat to get to his house.

鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 on my mind,鈥� Laith said when asked if he requested a Metro pass from school. 鈥淚 just wanted to get to my classes and get through what鈥檚 important. It鈥檚 my first day here.鈥�