CONCORD, NH — Officials in the SAU Concord School District are reportedly investigating two incidents involving buses this week and have hopefully resolved one of the issues.
During the past 72 hours, several parents reported to Patch that Broken Ground Elementary and Mill Brook Primary School students were left stranded on Monday and Wednesday morning after the bus route pickup times were changed. However, the parents were not told about the change.
The route, 9A, is a 15-mile route that transports 53 students for 52 minutes each day. The route starts on Sewalls Falls Road, moves to Mountain Road, and then to Hoit Road. The bus drives around East Concord side streets and then heads back down Mountain Road, along more side streets, than East Side Drive, and then to the school.
On Wednesday, according to one parent, the bus never came to pick up students and several were left stranded. At least one father in the area reportedly began picking up students and taking them to school, the parent told Patch. On Thursday, other parents reported to Patch the same thing happened on Monday.
When one parent inquired with the transportation department about why children were not being picked up, the staffer reportedly informed the parent the time had been changed to eight minutes earlier than the previous first weeks of school. When the parent let the staffer know no one had told them, the staffer thanked the parent for the call and hung up on them.
The first parent learned later that other parents in the area also did not know about the time change. The parent said the interaction was stunning since many did not know their children were stranded waiting for the bus.
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School Superintendent Kathleen Murphy said Friday the problem had been resolved and was a miscommunication. The transportation team needed to shift the bus to an earlier time to use it for for Rundlett Middle School. The bus driver informed students last week. Murphy confirmed parents were not told, and said she was surprised, calling it a huge mistake. The district, she said, had new software for the bus routes and also had other ways of notifying parents. Murphy said it sometimes was complicated due to varying parent and student schedules. But the parents should have been informed.
“It’s on us for not communicating with those parents,” Murphy said. “(I don’t know) why a message didn’t get sent out. But the bottom line is I expect a note to go out to parents (whenever there is a change).”
Murphy said it was not reasonable or responsible to give the information to young children and expect them to communicate the changes to parents. It was up to the district to do that, she said.
“Even if the change might be small … eight or nine minutes, like this, parents will be notified in writing,” Murphy said, from this point forward.
On Thursday afternoon, an incident on Bus 5 (5C) was reported, and Concord High School is officially investigating it.
In a notice to some CHS parents, Lisa Lamb, an administrator at the school, confirmed there was an incident, and it was under investigation.
“We have obtained footage from the bus camera and have identified all parties involved,” she said. “We will work with transportation to address the incident.”
Lamb said, “As always,” child safety was the school’s No. 1 priority.
Specifics were not released about the incident. But Patch learned from students on the bus it involved one student allegedly throwing a tennis ball at another student, and then the student hit with the ball, reportedly punching the first student, according to the students.
Bus 5C, according to school data, has 127 students on the afternoon bus, driving more than 31 miles, across nearly 90 minutes.
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