Article Summary: Parents raised serious transportation safety and reliability concerns at the Manhattan School District 114 board meeting, including a harrowing account of a kindergartener being dropped off at the wrong bus stop and left to walk alone, prompting a district response about holding its contractor accountable.

Manhattan School District 114 Transportation Key Points:

• A parent reported her 5-year-old was dropped off at the wrong bus stop and walked over 500 feet alone after the driver left the scene.

• Another parent questioned the district’s three-year contract with Lincoln-Way School District 210 Transportation amid ongoing issues with late buses.

• Superintendent Dr. Damien Aherne acknowledged the frustrations and stated the district is working daily with the contractor to meet expectations for safety and timeliness.

MANHATTAN – The Manhattan School District 114 Board of Education faced pointed criticism from parents Wednesday night over significant transportation failures, including a frightening incident where a five-year-old was left at the wrong bus stop to find her own way home.

During the public comment portion of the meeting, parent Cheryl Pistas gave an emotional account of her kindergartener being dropped off at the wrong location on September 10. Pistas said she was waiting at her daughter’s correct stop when she realized the child was not on the bus. The driver’s response, she said, was that her daughter “probably got off at the last stop.”

“I get off and I’m running down the street and he left,” Pistas told the board. “She’s five. So he left.”

Pistas found her daughter crying after the child had walked 0.1 miles—528 feet—and crossed an intersection completely alone. Pistas highlighted the danger, noting the two bus stops are not visible to each other and that there are registered sex offenders living in their subdivision.

“We do not live in a safe world. And our 5-year-old should not have been out by herself,” she said, adding that she received empathetic responses from district administration but no response from the director of transportation at Lincoln-Way School District 210, the district’s busing contractor.

“I’m asking for the board and admin to let us parents know what is going to be done to ensure the safety of our children and how the bus drivers and the district transportation will be held accountable by our school district,” Pistas concluded.

Her concerns were echoed by parent Katie Pa, who addressed chronic bus lateness that she said has persisted for approximately five years. Pa questioned the board’s decision to enter into a new three-year intergovernmental agreement (IGA) with the transportation provider.

“What did you all consider when you signed this contract?” Pa asked the board. “Were you aware that there were already serious issues with transportation prior to resigning this contract? Is that something you had done your due diligence with as a board?”

Later in the meeting, Superintendent Dr. Damien Aherne directly addressed the complaints.

“I know that we have some serious concerns with our transportation. And we share our families’ frustrations and your concerns with that,” Dr. Aherne stated during his report. “We do continue to work closely every single day with Lincolnway 210. We had a meeting just today at Lincoln Way Central to move closer to our expectations.”

Dr. Aherne affirmed the district’s position, stating, “We’re not softening on our expectations, which is very simply that our buses need to be on time and our kids need to be safe.” He assured the community that the district would continue to work with the contractor and communicate progress to families.

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