ST. LOUIS — St. Louis Public Schools announced Monday that some bus routes in the district have been suspended after several buses were found to not meet safety standards.
SLPS suspended all routes operated by one of their transportation vendors effective as of this past Saturday. 5 On Your Side asked which routes will be impacted and which vendor it is but have yet to hear back from the district.
We talked to concerned parents about trying to achieve consistent transportation for their children.
Sammie Harris is the father of a second grader at Hamilton Elementary School. Almost two months after the first day of school, his son is no longer one of 6,200 children being picked up by an SLPS district private van vendor.
Now, Harris has driven his son to and from school every morning and afternoon since the third day of school.
"They haven't came and got him since because when (the private driver) dropped him off, he said, 'If nobody be there in five minutes, he's going to take him to the police station,'" Harris said.
That's been a major change for Harris since August.
"I got to do my schedule around his time getting off the bus or him going to school, me taking him," Harris said. "My schedule is surrounding him getting back and forth from school. So sometimes I can't do certain stuff."
SLPS also made a big change this weekend by stopping all routes from one of its vendors.
A decision after "a thorough review that uncovered several instances of non-compliance with our contractual obligations and safety standards."
On the subject of safety, Harris said, "Kids just can't walk to school down the street to school without worrying about something going on."
"It's stressful about him being seven and I've got to get him back and forth to school everyday," Harris said.
Another parent we spoke with Monday afternoon didn't want to go on-camera but said having an SLPS van pick up their child everyday is "a blessing."
They've had no problems this year. That parent is hoping it's a process that doesn't change.
In the Oct. 14 announcement, SLPS said there will be a new assistant director of transportation: Leviticus "Levi" McNeal.
He is an addition to the transportation department as the director, Toyin Akinola, will retire on Oct. 31 after 25 years with SLPS.
The district said in their statement McNeal's first order of business will be to review all vendor compliance contracts and regulations over the next 15 days.
They're expecting a public report to come out on Nov. 1.