Parent worried about safety, says child’s Lee County bus not showing up for school

A student was left at his bus stop in Southwest Florida, forcing him to miss a day of school. The student’s mother says this is one of many issues she’s had with the school bus system in Lee County.

Amanda Kish takes her son to the bus stop every morning in Cape Coral. All she asks is the bus show up and get her son, Jayden, to school on time.

“It’s really, really, really an issue,” Kish said.

Kish told us she’s tired of wondering if Jayden will get to Skyline Elementary School. Kish claims, too many times, the bus never shows up, including Friday morning.

“I dropped my son off at the bus stop this morning at approximately 6:28,” Kish said. “Bus usually comes about 6:32-ish, and at 7:01, my son comes walking back into the house.”

Since Friday was a half-day, Kish called the school to let faculty know Bus 2769 never showed up for her child.

Kish told us the school responded by telling her to keep Jayden home for the day because, by the time he would arrive on Skyline’s campus, he’d be packing up soon to go home again.

“It is affecting families on many different levels, but my main concern at this point is how it’s endangering the lives of our children of how this … transportation system is being managed,” Kish said.

We reached out to The School District of Lee County, and a spokesperson said the schools make a “herculean effort” to get kids to and from school safely. They said Friday’s incident was human error because a new dispatcher made a mistake, and other buses were sent to cover the route.

Kish hopes the District figures out a way to better communicate with parents if and when a school bus will be late. She also asked other moms and dads to come forward when this issue happens to their kids.

“Where’s your herculean effort?” Kish said. “I make more of a herculean effort being on time to the bus stop.”