HOUSTON – The first day of the Houston ISD school year was touted as a “great day” of education by Superintendent Mike Miles.
However, minutes into his first news conference of the school year Miles declared that there was one problem that he viewed as “unacceptable” for families, the issue of bus service that did not deliver.
While it was not a large problem in terms of scope, it did create big problems for the fraction of students and families it did impact.
Miles admitted there were problems with parents not being provided with accurate routes. The problem he says was a software issue but did quickly declare that in the coming days, “we’ll get that right.”
On Monday, minutes after KPRC 2 Investigates showed up to the Butler Bus Yard on the district’s southwest side, multiple drivers approached us to share their concerns regarding buses carrying children with special needs not having working air conditioning units. Driver Lilly Berry-Hall said that that she knew of “at least 70″ kids with special needs put on buses without working air conditioners.
Minutes later another driver said this was the third ride since last Thursday without a working air conditioner, “no cold air, it was only hot air” that blew out of today’s vehicle for Malcolm Rivers. Rivers said that he and another driver moved the kids to the front of the bus where at least some of the wind was blowing out of the vents, but again nothing cool as the feel like temperatures Monday soared again to over 100-degrees.
Rivers and Berry-Hall said they have expressed their concerns for days but it has fallen on deaf ears, “Me and a bus driver we actually complained about it twice to the mechanics, but since they fired all the mechanics it’s just kind of hard to kind of get it working right now,” said Rivers, who made it clear he made two complaints last week.
We asked Berry-Hall what grade she gives the district for the problems? “An F+,” she said without hesitation.
What is Miles saying?
“I hadn’t heard that as a problem so I’m sure that’s not a big issue but if it’s a specific issue I would ask the bus driver to speak with their dispatcher because we have extra buses and that is part of the pre-driving check that they are supposed to go through,” said the superintendent after KPRC 2 Investigates presented the issue.
We also made it clear that we asked questions of the drivers and whether or not they brought up their concerns to management at their bus yard.
“Well if you have specific names or if they have specific issues they can contact the dispatcher and if nothing else you can give me the names and I’ll follow up,” said Miles.
We followed up with his team on the concerns expressed by Berry-Hall and Rivers. KPRC 2 Investigates will continue to follow the district as they work for a quick resolution.
On Monday, a full week after KPRC 2 Investigates first reported on the bus issue, HISD says the buses belonging to the two drivers interviewed have been pulled for repairs and they have been provided with new ones with air conditioners that are working properly.