'It's not OK:' Wake County mother frustrated after school bus skips over special needs son

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- A Wake County single mother has been losing out on about three hours of pay every day so she can do someone else's job and bring her special needs child to school.

"It's not OK; It is not OK. This is not what I signed up for and this is not what we're used to," said parent Alisha Horton.

Her son Xavier Horton has autism. He's in third grade and just celebrated his tenth birthday earlier this month.

Horton says he has been left behind by the Wake County School System and the district school bus just stopped showing up.

She has been shouldering the responsibility of getting him to and from Southeast Raleigh Elementary School. Her bosses have been working with her, but she is not sure how much longer she can keep it all up.

"That's my son. At the end of the day, I'm going to make sure that he has everything that he needs and that he gets to school okay, but it's still not fair to me to have to leave work or come late to work because transportation is failing to get it together," said Horton.

She has reached out to the school and the Transportation Department but says she's getting the runaround.

"I've been calling every day, literally every day," said Horton. "They'll put me on hold and nobody will come back."

Recently, several other Wake County families with special needs children have also been left without transportation. The district says the vendor it uses has a driver shortage and they're working to resolve the problem.

The situation with Xavier, however, is different.

ABC11 is being told folks at the school incorrectly filed paperwork and that prohibited a pick-up.

The district is fixing the problem now and Xavier should soon be able to ride the bus again like the rest of his friends.

ABC11 is being told staff is working internally to create a system and the process should be shared soon.