CAPE CORAL, Fla. — Parents of Lee County School students express frustrations with the school bus systems.
Fox 4 spoke with a parent who shares custody of her child, and usually, he’s able to ride two bus routes, one to his moms and another to his dad's, but this year the policy has changed.
Christine Thompson says her step-son Mathew is a sophomore at Oasis High School, and up until now, the school’s always been able to accommodate their blended family.
“He would ride the bus at the end of our neighborhood and when he was at his mom’s house he would ride the bus from her neighborhood, ” said Christine Thompson.
The charter school’s bus system is now working solely with Lee County, forcing this family to pick just one bus route.
Thompson now has to reconfigure everything including her work schedule to get her stepson to and from school.
“That’s why we put him on the bus, that’s we don’t sit in the car line, we can’t do that our work schedules don’t allow us, ” said Thompson.
The Lee County School District has provided a response to this family’s dilemma:
“Although we are sympathetic to the potential and realistic problems of shared residential custody of the child, we must adhere to proper procedures. It is the responsibility of the parents, not the School District of Lee County, to transport the child to two residences.”
Thompson says the split bus routes have not been a problem in previous years.
“I feel like they could do something more, they don’t want to answer my questions. It’s just no, we can't do anything, “ said Thompson.
Nicole Willams says shes also had problems trying to get her son assigned to a bus route this year, as the district originally told her the busses were already at capacity.
Her son was eventually granted permission to ride the bus if capacity levels remain low, but she says it was only after going back and forth with the District.
Thompson says she feels The Lee County School District is discriminating against blended families, and that she will continue to push the envelope hoping for change.
