Troubleshooter: Raleigh mom frustrated after son wasn't assigned a bus stop
RALEIGH (WTVD) -- Most students use the bus to get to school, but for one Raleigh student, that was not an option.
"He wasn't assigned a bus stop at the beginning of the school year," said mom Khia Powell.
Powell said her son wasn't assigned a bus stop because he is considered a transfer student, since he doesn't go to his base school.
"I filled out the online request at the beginning of the school year. They said it would take about 30 days. After about a month, I redid it," Powell said.
But despite phone calls and emails, Powell said she never heard back from Wake County Public Schools on whether her son was approved or denied a bus stop.
"It caused problems with my job because I was going in late to drop him off. I was getting off early to pick him up," she said.
Two months after the start of school, her son still did not have a bus stop.
"The wait was ridiculous. Thirty days, you expect to hear something, and I heard nothing. It was way too long," Powell said. "They should've sent some type of correspondence saying we were working on it. It's in progress, or something to let me know that he wasn't forgotten about."
Frustrated, Powell reached out to ABC11. We reached out to Wake County Schools, and a representative said transfer students aren't eligible for busing at first, and the district waits at least 30 days before looking at the transportation requests.
The rep said they have thousands of requests to go through, and it takes time as they look at requests where safety is involved first.
But she assured me Powell's case would be looked into, and within days, Powell's son was assigned to a bus stop in his neighborhood.
"I'm just grateful for Diane stepping in and helping out. I appreciate everything that she did and finally he should be able to get on the bus," Powell said.
