Why are thousands of Lakewood children without busing?

here we are October 9th more than 30 days into the school year and reportedly 4,000 non-public school kids don't have busing hundreds upon hundreds of public school children are getting to school late and being picked up an hour to two hours late this is from sources from parents who have called this office both public and non-public from bus companies that have contacted this office from teachers who have contacted office in the public schools saying how can I help get public school kids to school on time so once again where does this go once again what is the solution the problem we know what is the solution well the first question you have to ask is who had the idea of buying 50 to 60 buses for Lakewood Public Schools and was it FIS sound busing should be done however it's done whether by the district by vendors but there had to be some kind of plan this is not all unexpected is it fiscally sound well here are some facts that I've gleaned some from Oprah requests coming more Oprah requests and from information that is publicly available allegedly the district is paying drivers for 40 hour weeks sorry for 40 hour hours per week at the rate of anywhere from $18 an hour and up plus benefits plus pension and in fact the drivers many of them reportedly are working only 30 to 35 hours a week so why is our public money whether you be a senior whether you be a non-public parent whether you be a public parent whether you be a resident of Lakewood why is the Board of Ed paying for drivers 40 hours a week when many of them are not working that forget the fact that they're getting almost double what they previously got by working for state approved vendors which I go to that question number two many of the venders who are busing public school children that is the non-mandated busing for public school children is being done by vendors now whether it be Jay's CL simov they're losing drivers at least one or two a week because the district is hiring them so you are we are now creating a situation where in addition to having drivers getting paid almost double the vendors forget the nonpublic kids the vendors are losing their drivers to the public school busing company if you will and there's no end in sight we all know there is a state shortage of drivers so they're not going to magically come out of the woodwork at least not in the near future then there's talk of maybe dorham bus company will come back maybe sta will come back these companies have no reason to come back cuz once again there is no stability in Lakewood you have three monitors you have the head of the monitors they all come here for meeting and as of October 9th there are 4,000 nonpublic kids of which a proximately half are mandated there are hundreds upon hundreds of public school kids who are either not getting busing or coming late here's another wrinkle the teachers union rightly so the public school teachers union who has enough to do to teach our kids is being asked to come in later change the start time end the end the end time which per contract they don't have to do forget all that even if the teachers union would agree to change their hours of operation which they're now being asked to do by the state monitor by the board which they don't have to but even if they would what's going to happen to all these Public School parents who work that means instead of Johnny going to school at 8:15 the talk now is we'll start school at 9: for him well parents work parents have after care before care we're going to change all this in the middle of the year so where is the culprit whose lack of planning caused this well I would ask anyone get a copy of the plan CU you have to have a plan don't you when you purchase 50 to 60 buses you have to have a plan when you support this creation of this lsta don't you and when you will see the bottom line is fiscal IR responsibility in a district that pays for no less than three monitors to make us fiscally responsible the time has come for the district to take back the Reigns the time has come for those who caus this Havoc both for students public or not and FIS Havoc to go thank you and one more thing what I understand part of the plan when we purchase we the taxpayers them the monitors and the board they envisioned using these buses to make a fiscally sound for non-public kids that's why the start times are different yet the nonpublic schools have been told as late as October 5th by Mr aara that the buses that sit idle in the the Lakewood Board of Aid bus headquarters which you will behind the Middle School cannot and will not be used for non-public children let me remind you non-public parents pay taxes nonpublic kids have an entitlement to get to school we're not talking the courtesy but the more than 2,000 approximately mandated kids who don't and as of October 5th Mr aara has stated these buses will not be used used for nonpublic children what is the township doing I you know the township committee I have the highest respect for they came to the plate even though they didn't have to to give about 1.6 million for Courtesy busing for public school kids well why are they not demanding that the buses that we're all paying for that sit idle you know the drivers who are very good people who work maybe 30 35 hours a week but get paid for 4 why are we not saying drive those buses when they're sitting idle for the non-public no one knows but stay tuned cuz when the lawsuit is filed we will all know