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ADAMS COUNTY, Colo. — It's been a bumpy start to the school year in Brighton and Thornton.
District 27J is having trouble getting to bus stops on-time.
When the bus was a no-show on the first day of school last week, that was one thing.
"We didn’t think it was a big deal," said father Justin Pyles.
But, when it failed to show up again Tuesday of this week, these parents were beyond annoyed with the district.
"We stayed out here until about 8:25 this morning, when the bus was scheduled to arrive at 8:05,” Jeff Matthews. “Then, all the parents jumped in to get the kids to school."
"All the parents had to rush to get the kids to school," Pyles said.
And it wasn't just this bus route. The district had problems with late buses across its system.
“Unfortunately, 27J failed to pick-up a lot of kids throughout their system at the designated stops," Matthews said.
The district says it's working through some issues, but students should continue showing up at their scheduled pick-up times this week, and if problems persist, kids will not be marked as tardy.
These dads say what makes the issue so much worse is that the school is new, so the sidewalk ends along a busy 136th Ave., about a half mile from the school - which makes walking or biking to school impossible and unsafe.
"It's ridiculous that there's no sidewalk. It should have been part of the plans for this new $89.5 million high school," said Matthews whose son is 11-years-old, but attends the school because it is a combined high school and middle school until the new middle school is complete.
"We're putting our kids’ safety in the district's hands," Pyles said.
As for the patience of these parents, "I think they'll get it together (laughs). I've got faith."
