ATLANTA (CBS ATLANTA) -
Parents of several Atlanta Public Schools special needs students said their school bus never came Monday for the first day of school.
Parent Robert Ross said a bus was supposed to take several students to a program for students with autism at Inman Middle School.
"We were ready and waiting, and waiting, and waiting," Ross said. "It never showed."
This wasn't Ross' son's first year riding this route, and the father said the same thing happened last year. Still, he had high hopes for this year.
"I heard from the school district two-and-a-half weeks ago - they confirmed he would be riding the bus," Ross said.
Another parent wished to remain anonymous but said his special needs son was also not picked up Monday morning. He said that when he tried to call authorities with APS' transportation department, he wasn't able to get through.
Ross said he believes his son's group was forgotten about.
"According to the teacher this morning there was no bus, no Special Ed bus for Inman," Ross said.
The mix-up is especially upsetting to the parents, because of their children's special needs.
"My son is autistic," Ross said. "He needs to be prepped for what's going to happen. He likes routine, he likes rhythm, he likes to know. As long as he knows what's going to happen, his transitions are easy."
While Ross eventually took his son to school himself, he said the group's teacher had to spend much of the day straightening out the mess.
"The teacher today had to leave her classroom and spend who knows how long with the principal and the assistant principal, trying to track down transportation," Ross said. "Since this was the first day of school and there's going to be upset somewhere, it seems that something so basic as transporting students from their home to the school would be covered. These things happen every single year at APS. It's not the first day of school."
A spokesman for Atlanta Public Schools said the "matters are being looked into along with others on this first day of classes for the new school year."
Copyright 2012 WGCL-TV (Meredith Corporation). All rights reserved.
