Little People’s Academy in Harrison County alters bus runs
A transportation decision made by West Wortham Elementary and Middle School has left parents of several students frustrated and confused.
For several years now, Little People’s Christian Academy owner Lori Rolison has had a steady bus routine with West Wortham School for her aftercare kids.
The Little People’s bus has made two runs to West Wortham to pick up students. First to pick up the elementary students and next up are the middle school students.
However, on the afternoon of August 17th, West Wortham Principal Dr. William Bentz allegedly told Rolison that teachers will no longer supervise the middle school students who come to Little People’s Christian Academy due to a change in school hours. Rolison said, “Well we’ve always done two bus runs and 24 hours wasn’t enough time to allow me to figure out a solution to the problem.”
Rolison called the Harrison County School District Bus Barn and explained her request to drop off the 4-5 middle school students to solve the issue, however, she said she was told that the school district doesn’t work with local businesses as a bus stop. “When I let the parents know what I was told, they were very upset. I had a couple of parents crying thinking about their students being left unattended.”
On Thursday, Rolison says she spoke to Dr. Bentz again who told her the school district decided to let her use her personal vehicle along with the bus to pick up all of the kids at the same time. “I expected us to work well together for the students and the working parents and unfortunately that wasn’t the response I got.”
Superintendent Mitchell King did not want to go on camera for an interview, but sent News 25 a statement that said “We will follow the policy of the Harrison County School District regarding the transportation of students.”
In review of the policy, we found nothing that specifically addresses this issue.
