Where's the bus? Some Deptford Twp. parents still waiting for info on school transportation plan

DEPTFORD, N.J. (KYW Newsradio) — It’s Patricia’s daughter’s first year of high school at Gloucester County Institute of Technology and she has not received any information on her school bus. She says she has called and left several messages.

“I’m a single mom. And I don’t have anybody to drive my daughter to and from school to be able to pay my bills,” she said Wednesday outside the Deptford Township Board of Education building. A district employee apologized to her and promised to resolve the problem.

Deptford Superintendent Kevin Kanauss announced in early August that free busing for kids who live within 2 miles of their elementary or middle school, or within 2.5 miles of their high school, would come to an end. Only students living further out would have been eligible for a free ride. Students who live closer would have to walk or be driven to school.

After outraged parents voiced their concerns at a board of education meeting, the district revised the policy and issued new bus routes.

Lisa Koncelik has three kids in the school district and says this has been a comedy of errors.

“Anybody that’s from Deptford knows it’s not a pedestrian town,” she said. “So our kids would have been dangerously walking to school. And the middle school and high school kids would have been walking in the dark with no pathways or sidewalks.”

“... And it’s sad because it’s not hurting them at all. It’s hurting the parents and it’s hurting the children. And the children should come first, and it doesn’t in this township, not for the schools anyway.”

Koncelik says there’s no reason to reinvent the wheels on the bus. She thinks they should just go back to the routes that were in place for years.

The district and Kanauss said they experienced some unexpected errors and have since logged each student into the transportation system. Anyone who still has issues, questions or concerns should reach out to his office . Showing up at the front door seemed to have worked for Patricia.

The first day of school is Thursday, Sept. 5.