STOCKTON, Calif. — There's a lot of "school" work for Loretta Diaz's eighth-grade daughter to do at home, but none of it was assigned by a teacher.
"I have stencils of the alphabet, but like I said, that's a little more advanced for her," said Diaz while pointing to notebooks, markers and binders on her dining room table. "This is what I have her work on while I have her here. She calls it her homework. She writes... I do the best I can."
Diaz is forced to do her best because, in her opinion, the Stockton Unified School District has not been doing its best to make sure her special education daughter gets to class.
"I thought everything was okay because I did get a confirmation letter from the Stockton Unified School District Special Ed Transportation Department," Diaz said. "So I thought I was just waiting on a call from the bus company regarding pick-up time."
On Thursday, the first day of school, her daughter's bus never came.
"Finally I was like, 'Just accept it. She's not going to the first day of school. We'll fix it for the second day.' Friday, I couldn't get a hold of anybody," Diaz said. "I figured, it's close to the weekend... not going to fix it. Tried again on Monday.""
A third day passed with neither a response nor a bus showing up outside of her apartment complex.
"Finally (Tuesday), the school says she's excused for the rest of the week, and they're working on the problem. What the problem is? I have no idea," Diaz said. "It's beyond frustrating."
According to the Stockton Unified School District's (SUSD) own numbers, officials at the transportation department were busy all summer long hiring enough staff to drive all of the district's school buses, including a fleet of new electric ones. In a statement, the district said the issue with special education buses comes down to a third-party contractor.
"We have remedied this situation. SUSD outsources school buses for some of our Special Education Students. We have identified the glitch that has caused some student names to be left off an electronic roster. The Special Education Department is working closely with the Transportation Department to make sure all students are assigned proper transportation," the statement said. "Stockton Unified School District knows the importance of getting all SUSD students to and from school in a timely and safe manner. This year, SUSD is fully staffed with 71 bus drivers and continuing to add more drivers and buses to expand transportation needs of our students. And reduce outsources of students."
The district said a contract in place for this school year also allows high school students to ride San Joaquin RTD buses to and from school for free.
While Diaz doesn't know how long her daughter's bus disruption will last, she said she's looking forward to the new first day of school and doing what she can in the meantime.
"I just want her to get a good education," Diaz said. "When they can get her there, they have amazing teachers. I don't want to stir chaos or create a negative vibe. All I want is help and change."
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