As Lawrence Public Schools begins its contract with Durham School Services, some families have reported difficulty securing bus service and confirming route enrollment, and longer commutes for some College and Career Center students.
The Lawrence school board in April approved a three-year contract with Durham to replace the district’s previous transportation company, First Student.
As classes began for grades K–12 on Thursday, Aug. 13 following a transition day on Wednesday, Aug. 12, some challenges have arisen.
Lexie Monroe, a single mother of three elementary school students, said her children have ridden public school buses to and from daycare for the past three years. Although she had applied for transportation more than a month before school started, her children have not been approved for service to daycare, she said.
Monroe said she called and emailed Durham multiple times without receiving a response. She said the bus company told her it could take until Labor Day to hear back.
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In the meantime, Monroe said she has had to rush from work to pick up her kids. She said school staff originally told her she needed to pick them up by 4:05 p.m., but she got permission from the principal for them to wait in the office because she does not have another pickup option.
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“It’s extremely inconvenient,” Monroe said. “Children were waiting way past 4:30 (Monday) … There are still plenty of children waiting in the office to be picked up who I assume would typically be on the bus.”
Other parents described problems with enrollment information appearing incorrectly to drivers.
Caitlin Hitt said her eighth-grade son at West Middle School was eventually allowed to ride home after a driver told him he was not signed up for the afternoon route. Hitt said she completed the registration form for both morning and afternoon service and sent her son a screenshot of the confirmation.
After calling Durham, Hitt said staff guided her through the company’s app, where she could see that he was listed for both routes. Durham staff said they would place a note for the bus driver confirming that he was approved for morning and afternoon transportation, she said.
Hitt said her initial contact with Durham before school began had been positive, and her son rode to school without trouble on the first day.
“I would say I am moderately certain he would be able to ride the PM bus route if he needed to at this point,” Hitt said. “But I will definitely have my phone close to me in case he is turned away.”
Some parents are also concerned about the length of some rides.
Erin Adamson, whose 16-year-old daughter attends the College and Career Academy full time, said a change in the district’s transport plan could double her daughter’s commute.
In an Aug. 3 to school families, Principal Mark Preut wrote that students would no longer receive bus service directly from home to the Academy. Instead, students would travel from home to their assigned high school and take a shuttle from there to the Academy.
Adamson said her daughter previously took about a 40-minute bus ride to Free State during her freshman year and estimates the shuttle trip back across town to the College and Career Center could add another 30 minutes.
The earlier departure and longer commute feel unreasonable, Adamson said, and she worries the longer commute could make attendance more difficult for other CCC students.
“Making a change that puts an additional barrier up for them getting to school on time just seems like a bad idea,” Adamson said.
In a Tuesday transportation update, Superintendent Jeanice Swift said the district had routed approximately 1,800 students while addressing a high volume of transport requests submitted close to or after the start of school.
Swift said all students with high-priority transport needs, including special education students whose education plans require transportation, had been routed, although staff continued to process recent additions.
Ashley Hendricks, whose two children have individualized education programs, said her oldest child’s bus did not arrive on the first morning of school. After calling the bus company 13 times, she was told the bus was running 45 minutes late, she said.
Hendricks said her younger child, who uses a wheelchair, began pre-K this week, and was not picked up for school on Tuesday. She said Durham told her the bus was running late but did not provide an estimated arrival time, so she walked her child to Kennedy Early Childhood Center.
Hendricks said she registered both children for transportation well before school began and that their IEPs included transportation needs.
Her older child, a fourth grader at Prairie Park Elementary School, has ridden buses since school began, though not always the assigned bus, Hendricks said. She said her child’s IEP calls for a safety harness that had not been provided on the bus.
Families who completed registration but have not received transportation should contact the district’s Family Engagement Center by calling 785-330-1900 or contacting their school directly, Swift wrote.
Requests for “space available” transportation — bus services for students who do not otherwise qualify — will be prioritized after bus routes and ridership have stabilized, Swift wrote.
Durham School Services did not respond to questions about the number of disrupted routes, current driver staffing levels, GPS issues, workplace conditions or the timeline for resolving transportation concerns.
Anna Lam, a spokesperson for Durham, said in an email Wednesday that on-time performance has improved since the start of school and that it is working to reduce remaining delays. The company said it has not missed any routes.
The company apologized for the inconvenience to families and said it was working with the district to refine routes, continue recruiting and training additional drivers and respond to family inquiries. Families with inquiries may contact Durham at [email protected].
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Courtney Lane (she/her), reporting correspondent, has worked with The Lawrence Times since April 2026. Originally from Arkansas, she’s a graduate of KU’s Journalism school, where she worked as a reporter, opinion section editor, and eventually editor-in-chief for The Kansan.
Read her work for the Times at this link, and see her photography for the Times at this link.
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