BARBERTON, Ohio — Some parents with children who attend Barberton City Schools have needed to adjust their daily routines as the district has temporarily suspended some of their bus services based on pandemic challenges.
“It’s making things a little bit difficult, but we’re getting through it,” Anna Puett told 3News outside of Barberton Elementary West early Thursday morning.
The change came earlier this week when the district announced that services for the main bus route are now suspended until Oct 7. Since this only impacts the main route, school officials noted that bus services will remain intact for Preschool, 4 Cities Compact, students with special needs and afterschool activities.
Faith Smith, who dropped her grandsons off at school Thursday, said the situation is sad.
“I’m very sad for the parents that don’t have help and the grandkids that are my grandkids’ age that cannot stay home alone and be on the Chromebooks,” Smith said. “I hope they work it out soon. I hope everybody stays safe. I’m just sad to see this happening.”
Barberton listed two options for parents impacted by the bus route suspension:
- Find another mode of transportation to the school. Early drop-off will be available at all the buildings.
- Students will be allowed to log in and participate in their classes remotely. Teachers will still be recording attendance for the remote students.
“It’s pretty inconvenient,” Wesley Manigault told 3News. “I don’t think it’s really fair to a lot of people that need the buses as far as work schedules. There’s a lot of people that live where I live and their kids are forced to stay at home and do home school because they just don’t have the gas money to get back and forth to work. I don’t think they took that into account.”