Westbury parents left scrambling after private schools' bus company won't provide services this year

With the new academic year starting Tuesday for many Catholic schools on the Island, parents living in Westbury say they just found out that the district will not bus their kids to private schools this year on Friday.
Noreen Mormando, President of the Parents Association for Saint Brigid and Our Lady of Hope Regional said she and some other Catholic school parents were left scrambling to figure out a way to get their kids to school.
"There's a very significant safety issue for some of these kids, like, they can't take public transportation," Mormando explained.
An email that News 12 Long Island obtained from the superintendent of Westbury schools says the district learned Friday afternoon that one of its bus companies will no longer be able to take students to and from school this year.
The email also says that parents will have to get their kids back and forth to school themselves.
"I have one parent who has already contacted someone who's going to charge her $55 a week to take her child to and from school. So, should she have to pay that? At the end of the day, she's supposed to receive bus services as part of the school taxes that she pays," Mormando said
According to the New York State Education Department guidelines, the district is required to provide transportation to some students who don't go to public schools.
Mormando says as residents and taxpayers they are not getting what they pay for.
"We get books, we get IEP services, and we get busing, and one of those services is not being provided at this point and we want to know why," she said
According to the Westbury district's website, a virtual meeting is scheduled for Tuesday night to meet with private and parochial school parents about the busing, which the district says it's working to address.
News 12 Long Island learned that this bussing issue is impacting six schools.
News 12 Long Island also reached out to the bus company, First Student, for a response, but has not yet heard back.