‘Our children deserve better': Busing frustration continues for Deptford Township School District

The Deptford Township School District said that bus routes were deleted and now leaders are in the process of recreating them from scratch.

In the meantime, families told NBC10 that their stops have been changed, and in some cases are not safe.

One parent even said she was physically sick to her stomach sending her son to school on Thursday.

“I just feel like this all should be easier than what they’re making this out to be and what they’re doing to us," Amy Luke explained.

Luke is just one of many parents in the Deptford Township School District who is frustrated with district leaders' handling of this year's bus plan.

Thursday, Sept. 5 was Luke's 9-year-old son Derrick's first day of fourth grade at Shady Lane Elementary School in Westville.

“We go to the bus stop. It was a different bus number and when the bus driver came to the door to get him, there was no aide on the bus," she said.

Her son Derrick lives with Down Syndrome and Autism.

Luke said that he has been in the school district since he was 3 years old and has always ridden the bus with an aide until this day.

“It made me physically sick to my stomach because my son shouldn’t be left alone on a bus with just a bus driver. It’s very unsafe for the bus driver, other kids on the bus," she said.

As parents in the district started getting their kids ready for a new school year last week, many noticed they had not been assigned a bus number, or like in Derrick's case, the stop was changed from out front of his home to down the street.

One dad told NBC10 that his child's stop was moved about one mile down a busy road with no sidewalks or crosswalks.

"It has definitely took a lot of the fun out of going to the first day of school. As a parent we are very concerned. I have four kids, we have a business to run," George Moularkis said.

The bus issues started last month when the district announced it would stop offering free bus service for students who live within a certain distance to their schools.

That plan was eventually rescinded a few days later after community-wide backlash.

Then, on Wednesday, Sept. 4, the district explained the data loss and the new transportation staff was "working to rectify issues created from prior department supervision which had deleted student information from our old transportation routing software."

“My message to the district is: do better. All of us parents aren’t here to fight you, but we want you to do better. Our children deserve better and we’re tired of what’s been going on," Amy Luke said.

The district has not provided families with a timeline for when the routes will be finalized.

Luke said she plans to drive Derrick to school on Friday.