Thursday marked the first day of school for some pre-school students. For most of those students, it was also their first time riding a school bus.

One parent, Tameka Morris, says she became concerned when her 4-year-old son did not make it home until the evening. “I didn’t know where my kid was. I mean this is the first time this has ever happened to me.” Morris’ four-year-old son, Malechi, attends Pre-K at Truman Early Childhood Education Center. Thursday was his first day of school.

She says Truman is only six miles away from their home, but Malechi was not dropped off at the bus stop until three hours after his expected arrival. “I waited starting at 3:45 and I crossed the street because that’s where they said he would be dropped off, and I waited 4:45, 5:45. I didn’t hear anything from the school board, bus driver, transportation and they said they got stuck in traffic, but they’ll be here within five to 10 minutes.”

Morris says after numerous calls to the school board and even police, the bus finally arrived around 6:30 that evening. “He says he got stuck in an apartment complex trying to back out for two hours, and he was stuck in traffic on Ambassador Caffery.”LPSS Transportation Director, Damon Evans, says these issues stem from bus drivers learning new bus routes.  “The issue is about time. That’s just new drivers getting in the routine of their particular route and the more that they drive their route, the better they’ll become with their times.”

Morris says she would like to see better communication between parents and bus drivers. “That the bus drivers actually stay in contact with the parents if anything happens. We have their cell phones and they should have ours.”

Evans says he expects routes to begin to run a bit smoother over the next few school days.