CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) — A possible dangerous ride to school for Cosby High School students has Chesterfield County parents worried for their safety.
Yesterday, Cosby High School sophomore, Jade Barna, rode an overcrowded school bus with her classmates, sending her father a picture of the scene.
“I’ve never felt like my kid was unsafe on a Chesterfield bus until yesterday,” said Chris Barna, Jade’s father.
Jade told Barna some students were forced to squeeze four people into the same seat, with others sitting and standing in the aisle.
“If that bus were to get into an accident, someone could get killed,” Barna said. “Someone’s likely to get killed, especially if they’re seated in the aisle with no protection.”
Barna and his wife said they rely on the bus system to take Jade to school, but he says if CCPS doesn’t put a stop to this, that will change.
“If I have to consistently leave work early to pick my kid up so they’re not in an unsafe situation, I mean, I guess that’s what I have to do,” he said.
Barna found out this wasn’t a unique situation, another Cosby High School bus on a different Chesterfield route, experienced similar overcrowdedness yesterday. Another Cosby High School sophomore, Maggie Hall, told her mother, Miranda Hall, that she was forced to sit on the floor due to the lack of space.
The Virginia Department of Education states that a conventional school bus holds up to 30 students, but Hall says her daughter saw over 40 people on her bus on Tuesday.
“We send our children to school thinking that they’re going to be safe, not just inside the school, but on the way to and from school. And this is not a safe option for any of these students,” she said.
Shortly after Maggie got on the bus, she texted her mother, stating that the bus was overcrowded and sent her a photo of herself seated on the floor. Hall says she was enraged.
“I got on the phone knowing that she was still on the bus and called transportation [repeatedly],” she said. “I finally got through to somebody who said that the issue was with the school. That every bus should have administrators on it.”
Hall says that Chesterfield County School Board member Ryan Harter — who represents the Matoaca District — assured her that student safety is vital and that he will speak with transportation to ensure that similar incidents do not occur in the future.
“I told her [Maggie] from this point forward that, you know, just stay back,” Hall said. “Make them come back and get her.”
A Chesterfield County Public Schools spokesperson provided 8News with the following statement:
The safety and security of our students is a top priority and at the beginning of each school year we will make adjustments to routes as needed and as quickly as possible. These decisions take into account the effect that changes to one route then have on other routes.
Chesterfield County Public Schools
Hall said she wants administrators to put themselves in the shoes of parents when handling the overcrowding situation.
“We don’t need to have a horrible thing happen to our children either,” she said. “They’re supposed to be looking out for their safety just as much as I’m looking out for my child’s safety.”
