By Jessica Ercolino, Staff Writer
ROBBINSVILLE Parents are expressing concern about an elementary school bus that got lost last week and the lack of notification they received about it.
A Sharon Elementary bus arrived to school 25 to 40 minutes late Oct. 21 after a substitute driver made a wrong turn, Superintendent John Szabo said.
The original bus, which has a “three-tiered” route in the morning from the high school, middle school and elementary school, broke down after making the high school run, he said. One of the district’s bus providers, Dapper Bus Co., sent another bus and substitute driver to do the elementary school run.
Parents from the Brookshire Estates section of Robbinsville were upset last week over the situation. “You put your kids on the bus in the morning and rely on these people to take care of them and get them from Point A to Point B without incident,” said one mother who wished to remain anonymous. “They’re not transporting cargo, chickens or cattle they’re transporting children.”
The bus arrived to pick up Brookshire Estates children about 10 minutes late because of the rescheduling of the driver, the superintendent said. The development is approximately three miles from the school, located on Sharon Road.
The driver then accidentally missed the turn from Route 130 onto Gordon Road, and realized his mistake when he entered East Windsor Township, Dr. Szabo said.
”When you’re driving and not familiar with the area, it’s easy to miss,” the superintendent said. “It was not intentional he just missed a turn. It happens to us all.”
But while parents realize accidents happen, they were more concerned with the fact they learned about the incident through their children and not from the school. “When you talk to 8-year-olds, there are so many different versions of the story and you’re trying to piece together what happened,” said the Brookshire Estates mother. “You would think in a situation like this, the school would proactively call and let us know what happened.”
She added the school did not send a letter home about the incident either. “They can’t not tell parents when things like this happen,” she said. “When you’re not up front, there is all kinds of speculation, rumors start and people get angry. They start to not trust the powers that be.”
Dr. Szabo said that at most, the bus was four miles off-course, and stressed that the driver “just missed a turn.” In the case of a bus being lost or delayed in the future, parents will receive a courtesy call, he said. The superintendent added that notice also would be posted on the individual school’s Web site.
An employee at Dapper Bus Co. hung up Monday when telephoned for comment on the situation. Dr. Szabo said Tuesday he did not believe any action had been taken against the substitute driver.

