Parents frustrated with NJ school district's ongoing transportation issues

DEPTFORD, N.J. (CBS) -- As families in Deptford Township mark the first day of school Thursday, parents said they're still stressed and frustrated about ongoing issues with their children's busing situations.

Earlier this week, parents told CBS News Philadelphia that their children's online education portals were missing critical information about their buses, including their bus numbers and the location of their bus stops.

"A little bit stressful trying to figure out the bus situation," Colleen Crawford, a mother of three, said. "Kind of a bummer to spend the last day of vacation stressed about the bus instead of enjoying it with your kids."

CBS News Philadelphia was with Crawford Thursday morning as the bus came to pick up one of her children.

"I think that's great that my first got on the bus. His bus driver's lovely. She lives in this neighborhood, so she knows the route and that's great," Crawford said. "We'll see what happens the next two."

She said the bus also came for her pre-K child, but she drove her kindergarten-aged child to school.

The stress for parents began in mid-August after Deptford Township School District Superintendent Kevin Kanauss announced that courtesy busing would be eliminated for elementary and middle school students who live within 2 miles of their school and high school students who live within 2 and a half miles of their school.

The superintendent reversed his decision after facing heavy criticism from parents and township leaders.

George Moularakis chose to drive his kids to school because he said his 7 and 11-year-olds would be forced to walk along major roadways to get to their bus stop.

"There's no person in this township, grown-up or child, that would want to walk on this road," Moularakis said. "Letting a 7 or 11-year-old on this road is absolutely ridiculous and absurd."

Kim Chiocchi said her three grandchildren would also be forced to walk along major roadways to the bus stop.

"You're endangering the life of everybody's child that has to walk that is not getting a bus," Chiocchi said. "I'm sorry, it's unsafe."

Superintendent Kanauss declined CBS News Philadelphia's request for an on-camera interview. He released a statement saying, "I would like to personally thank the entire staff of Deptford Township Schools for a great start to the 2024-2025 school year.  They are all amazing and their efforts today went above and beyond for the community of Deptford. There are still some items to be sorted out but we are working hard to take care of them immediately for the families."

The district is also urging parents to check their children's online education portal at 5:30 a.m. every day for changes to their bus stops.