Parents Want To Know Why CPS Moved Kids Bus Stop A Mile Away
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Several parents were demanding answers from the Chicago Public Schools on Thursday, saying their children's bus stop was moved to a more difficult and less safe location, without input from the community.
The parents of students at Walt Disney Magnet School said they have tried to go through normal channels – calls, emails, and letters – to get an explanation from the district since the start of the school year, but have not received a response.
The old bus stop at Gale Elementary School was moved exactly one mile south to Field Elementary School.
Some parents said they're lucky enough to be able to drive their children to the new bus stop, but others have to walk with their kids, or let them walk on their own.
To get to Gale to wait for the school bus, Tiffany Mikell's 10-year-old son – who has special needs – had to walk less than half a mile. Now he must walk more than a mile to get to Fields, and he and classmates must be there at 6:30 a.m. to catch their ride to Disney – meaning they must make the long walk through Rogers Park before sunrise.
"We're extremely concerned about our children's safety; having to walk in the dark across busy streets, through gang territory," she said. "My son's 10, and he's a boy, and he's not as independent as I would like him to be, and so it's just a scary thing for him to be walking over a mile by himself in the dark."
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Mikell said she was not informed of the change in bus stops until a day before the new school year, and was not given any explanation.
"We haven't heard anything else since we've complained," she said.
CPS has not responded to requests for comment.
