A number of parents in the Deer Valley Unified School District reached out to ABC15 after their kids reported overcrowding on their school bus.
In fact, one of the parents sent us several photos and in one photo, you can see students sitting in the aisle of the bus.
Parents have also complained that the buses are often running late.
"It was frustrating. Very frustrating," explains Michelle Baker, who has three children in the district. Baker sent ABC15 a photo, showing her high school-aged daughter, sitting in the aisle of the bus one morning.
The district says there was room in other seats towards the front and in the back. The district says there was room for Baker's daughter to sit with two other students, but Baker says there's more to the story.
"She was the child sitting three to a seat and then sat on the floor. She is very tall. It is a very uncomfortable situation she was partially sitting on another child and it wasn't comfortable for that child. So she chose to sit on the floor briefly and then tried to get back up but she couldn't continue sitting on another kid. It creates an uncomfortable situation but also an unsafe one."
ABC15 reached out to the Arizona Department of Public Safety who told us: "There is no law that spells out how many kids can sit in a seat," but they did reference Arizona Administrative Code 13-13-104 and in Paragraph 5, it says, "All passengers shall sit with the backs against the seat backs, their legs facing towards the front of the school bus, and all parts of their bodies clear of all aisles whenever the school bus is in motion."
Parents say that's not what's happening.
"It was putting adult-sized children stacked on top of each other," says Baker.
The district tells ABC15 that part of the issue is that they need more drivers — it's a problem districts all over Arizona and the country are currently facing.
Shannon Ross also has a high school-aged daughter who takes the bus.
"My biggest fear is that they're going to get into a traffic incident or they're going to have an emergency where the kids will need to evacuate immediately and children will get trampled or hurt," she says.
ABC15 invited Deer Valley Unified officials to do a sit-down interview. The District declined but agreed to answer questions by e-mail. On Wednesday evening, spokesperson Monica Allread sent us these responses:
"We alert parents that their bus is going be late 10-15 minutes. This has happened more often recently because we have to combine routes due to lack of drivers. When a bus is running late, we text and email parents on that route to alert them.
For the particular bus ride you are referring to, the student bypassed seats with only 1 student to seats further in the back with 2 students and chose to sit as the third student. She then chose to sit in the aisle before sitting back in the seat.
We worked with the bus manufacturer, who supplied this information to us:
- Seats are 990.6mm wide; therefore, max occupancy is 3 to a bench
Your buses operating at 84 passengers (3 to a seat) is within both federal and state standards for school bus seating."
Parents told ABC15 there were as many as four students in the aisles while the district maintains there were two.
The district also says at no point was this particular bus over its capacity limits and they have reminded drivers to tell students to stay out of the aisles.
The district also has about 25 open positions for bus drivers, and also said this:
"We understand that while 61 students on a bus is safe and legal, it is not as comfortable as it could be. We need bus drivers and are working constantly to recruit them. This isn't just an Arizona problem, it is a national issue. DVUSD School bus drivers are paid a competitive salary, receive free training, and 24 paid holidays. Benefits include medical insurance, life insurance, disability, and retirement plans. To apply, visit http://careers.dvusd.org. We appreciate anything you can do to spread the word, as more drivers would make bus rides more comfortable for everyone."