Vandalism delays buses to 12 Wake County schools

Thirteen of 16 bus routes to Fox Road Elementary were slowed down. Many parents and neighbors ended up bringing their children to school instead. Buses from other parts of the county were also brought into help.

Other affected schools also included Wakefield Middle School.

Schools, including Wakefield High, kept on a normal schedule, and teachers accommodated students who were late, Wakefield High Principal Mark Savage said.

Voicemail messages were sent out to parents around 8 a.m. informing them of the situation.

Parent Amanda Jones-Howard said she was already at work when her daughters called saying they were still at the bus stop.

“With the weather the way it was, they (school leaders) should have done something to notify parents a lot sooner,” Jones-Howard said.

“Some schools had four or five routes within their school affected, and some only had one. So it would be very difficult for us to isolate exactly which sets of households and parents were supposed to be riding that bus today,” school district spokesman Michael Evans said.

Evans said the school handled the problem the best way possible.

“It was also probably a safety issue on some level as well. So while some people may think this is funny, we certainly don't,” Evans said.

Parents said on top of the fiasco, End-of-Grade testing is also going on this week. So students really did not need the disruption.

Raleigh police were reviewing surveillance video from Wakefield to try to find out who vandalized the buses.

Anyone with information that might assist the investigation should call the Raleigh Police Department's Detective Division at 919-996-3555 or Crime Stoppers at 919-226-2746. Crime Stoppers pays cash rewards for tips that help to clear cases, and callers never have to identify themselves.