HISD students still left without a ride to school

HOUSTON (FOX 26) - It’s the second week of classes for HISD, but the transportation issues still haven’t been fixed.

Last week, the district said the bus routes would be sorted out by September 4. There were many improvements, but students in the North Forest area were left waiting for a school bus.

”I’m not surprised, but I am disappointed,“ says William Lewis, whose son is an 8th grader at Forest Brook Middle School.

Last week we told you that due to a glitch in new software about 9,000 students didn’t have a bus to take them to and from school. The issue was suppose to be fixed, but about 400 students still needed a ride.

“If every student is not in school on time to learn, then you just haven’t done your job. So we have to get better at it,” said Brian Busby, Chief Operating Officer for HISD.

Parents we spoke with tell FOX 26 that their children were waiting up to two hours before they had to find another way to get their kids to school.

The district is saying the software glitch and human error caused the issue with students who live with in a walking zone and a hazardous area, and that they are trying to improve on a daily basis until all students transportation needs are met.

“We were classifying them as hazardous routes last year. When we switched over from our old system to to our new, we should have capture those and manually put those in, and we just didn't do that from day one. So in all honesty, it’s not somebody’s fault, because as leader of this team it’s on me and so it’s my job to work with the team to get it corrected,” says Busby.

Parents tell us they understand the district is growing, but were upset that they weren't given the heads up that their kids wouldn't have a ride to school, making them scramble at the last minute.

Lewis tells us, “I feel like that they already knew that this was coming and didn’t prepare to notify the public and let us know that we was about to have a major problem, and that we need your help to get your kids back to school until we figure it out.”

HISD says they are in the process of hiring more bus drivers to help. If you are interested head HISD transportation.