School started weeks ago in Cleveland, and two women are already fed up with what they're calling continued busing problems with the Cleveland Metropolitan School District.
newsnet5.com watched a video of a school bus passing up Barbara Boone's 1st-grade son Brian. Brian goes to West Park Lutheran, a private school that uses Cleveland school busses.
Last year, Brian was picked up in front of the house which helped Barbara watch over her home-schooled daughter who started having epileptic seizures recently.
"She's always with me because I don't want anything to happen to her,” Barbara said. “It was the scariest moment of my life. Honest to God. I really thought my daughter was going to die."
Barbara told us when Brian is able to catch the bus it's consistently late, forcing him to miss hours of school per week.
"Some days it's 45 minutes,” Barbara said. “There's been days when I've been here (waiting by the curb) over an hour."
Meanwhile, on the east side of Cleveland, 78-year-old great, great grandmother Lucille Hunter can barely walk but can't get more help from Cleveland schools to pick up 5-year-old Kamiah at the house.
"I don't want to be out here falling in the street,” said Hunter.
Kamiah lives within a mile of Euclid Park Elementary, around .8 miles, and the district told me she does not qualify for curbside pick-up.
Hunter has custody of Kamiah, and at times has had to pay someone to take her to school. "I'm running out of money. I'm running out of food,” Hunter said.
CMSD said in Hunter's case it moved a bus stop closer to her house to help, but Hunter explained she's concerned about crime and that still forces her to walk to the stop.
"[The kids] need to be protected,” she said.
After we started asking the district about these situations, Barbara's son had a van drop him off Thursday and pick him up Friday morning.
"You would think it would be more about the kids. It's not,” Barbara told newsnet5.com. “I just feel like it's a power struggle."
The district told us it was in contact with these women to clarify the district's policy. It also said drivers cannot deviate from the district transportation schedule.
The women contend the busses are already on their street anyway.
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