Columbia Public Schools, parents respond to Friday’s ice, bus conditions

Multiple Columbia Public Schools parents sounded off on the ABC 17 News Facebook page after it took hours for some students to get home during icy conditions Friday.

“This is absolutely not acceptable. Our son would not have been home until 9:30 p.m. if his father had not gone to the school to get him at 7:00 p.m.,” wrote parent Amy Anselm.

Others were more understanding. Juanita Slaughter Dorner wrote,”I would rather my child be at a warm school than in a cold stuck or wrecked bus.”

It wasn’t until 1:00 a.m. Saturday that Student Transportation of America gave CPS the all clear that students were home safe.

On Monday, CPS spokesperson Michelle Baumstark spoke on the issue, and said it was a fluid situation that involved rerouting buses around crashes and road closures.

“We did everything we could to try communicate with our families as much information as we could as it became available,” said Baumstark of the multiple emails sent out over the course of Friday night.

“You know, certainly it wasn’t perfect, and we know that, but we did the best we could with the information we had,” she said.

The district also said it must call an early dismissal by 10:00 a.m. in order to have everyone in place to handle an early out.

On Saturday morning, Baumstark sent a letter out similarly stating, “The timing of the weather and the size of our district would not have allowed us to begin dismissal processes any earlier. We were advised to wait for regular dismissal in order to allow time for roads to be treated, for the ground temperature to rise, and for bus drivers to make it in safely to drive afternoon routes.”