I am writing out of complete frustration regarding the transportation situation. While I made a strong stand against outsourcing from the beginning and had little issue making my opinion known, I have given the new arrangement a shot and it has failed miserably.

I attended the open house at St. Mary's last night and a primary topic was transportation issues. This is my sixth year and never has this come up from parents and administrators. Countless calls have been made to both Manhasset administrators and Huntington Coach and each seem to be pointing the finger at each other. It seems time to stand up, accept the blame for the issue and work to move forward. It is actually past that time but someone needs to take responsibility immediately and not pass the buck before there is a major issue.

To date:

• A little girl was "lost" for 30 minutes and driven around town because the driver was not aware that she was sitting in the bus seat behind him.

• Bus drivers with language comprehension issues

• There has been little or no consistency in who is driving buses. My own children have had five drivers so far.

• I have waited at the bus stop to take my kids off, the driver raced by and proceeded to drop them off at another corner, not a designated spot. She completely ignored my flagging her down.

• Original pick-up time 7:40, revised pick-up time 7:25 a.m., revised time 7:10 a.m. School starts at 8:10 a.m. A 7:10 a.m. time gets them to school at 7:25 a.m., 45 minutes early. This is ridiculous. There are kids dropped off at 7:15 a.m. When questioned, Huntington said it's a Manhasset issue because they can't be late for Shelter Rock. When called, Barbara Johnson said it's a Huntington issue and again pointed out the Shelter Rock time. The fact remains that this has worked in the past. Being at school one hour early for elementary school students is neither healthy nor conducive to learning.

• On the reverse side, St. Mary's students are rushed out of the building and the buses race off in the afternoon because they cannot be late for Munsey Park students.

• There are issues with which buses kids are on because the buses and bus drivers change constantly. You have teachers, administrators and kids afraid that they will not be on the right bus. This is exacerbated by the fact that they need to rush out to make sure the buses make Munsey Park and those kids aren't home too late.

• I have seen buses wandering around the neighborhood countless times. Could this not have been accomplished through driver training in July or August and not trial and error when kids are involved?

• What has changed from last year to this year that the system in place since my grade school years no longer works?

• The house across the street from me sends their children to St. Mary's as well, yet they are on a different bus. The same situation happens with the two Munsey Park houses directly opposite the other. Does this seem effective to anyone?

• No one has satisfactorily answered any questions. Blaming each other is not satisfactory. Were we sold a bill of goods by the BOE when they explained that there would be seamless transition? I understand transition time. I understand giving a new venture a shot. I completely understand. What I don't understand is that no one, I repeat no one, is accepting responsibility and changing it. Someone needs to step up and rectify this situation immediately before there are bigger problems.

John Kiggins