CRANBERRY TWP — A group of parents concerned about their children’s bus schedules have reached an agreement with Seneca Valley School District officials, although they’re still not pleased with the situation.

Those parents last week said they were displeased to see significant changes in their children’s bus schedules.

Some of the elementary school children heading to St. Kilian in Cranberry Township were scheduled to sit on the bus for more than 90 minutes before and after school, and were also scheduled to ride with high school students going to the new Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic High School.

Those bus schedules are set by Seneca Valley because those students live in the district. Under state law, Seneca Valley is mandated to provide transportation to those students to their school of choice.

Seneca Valley officials previously said the school will pay more than $500,000 this year to bus students to different schools.

Parent Stacy Tipton said Monday that the parents reached a compromise in which the young students ride times are cut significantly, but they still have to ride with high school students in the afternoon but not in the morning.

For Tipton, she’s still concerned about her daughter Madelynn, a fourth grader, and son Noah, a second grader, riding with older students.

“It’s never a good idea to have elementary and high school students together,” Tipton said. “I’m not sure why we had to compromise there. There are definitely safety concerns.”

Tipton said she’s happy her children won’t have to sit on the bus for such a long time, noting that the original 90 minute ride has been cut to about 40 minutes.

However, Tipton remains unhappy with the way the situation unfolded and said there’s a double standard for students who attend private school.

“The whole process left a really bad taste in my mouth,” she said. “It seemed sneaky and deceptive. They would never do that for public school kids, so why is it OK for parochial students?”

She claimed that Seneca Valley officials have not been responsive to parent inquiries and only altered the bus schedules after pressure from St. Kilian administrators.

However, the situation isn’t unique to students at Seneca Valley.

Kristen Wasylson of Valencia, who lives in the Mars School District, said she’s been dealing with a similar situation for years.

Her son Shaun, 11, is in the sixth grade at St. Alphonsus in Wexford, Allegheny County. She said the drive from her house to the school takes about 15 minutes, but her son is on a bus for 90 minutes in the afternoon.

Wasylson said she’s been sparring with Mars officials for years about the schedule and has gotten little in the way of concessions.

She’s been in talks this year with Mars Superintendent Jim Budzilek, who is evaluating the situation and said changes could be coming soon.

However, Wasylson said she is bitter about the situation. She said her son cried last week when he learned the bus schedule.

“It is essentially a 10-and-a-half-hour work day for an 11-year-old,” Wasylson said.

She blamed population growth for the long bus routes and claimed school districts don’t want to pay for more buses so they consolidate routes as much as possible.

The bus situation has been unfortunate, Wasylson said, but what’s been worse is the lack of communication with officials.

“Safety here is just not a factor,” she said. “They don’t care. It’s at the point now where I have a card with the busing dispatch number on it because nobody at the school will reach out to you and tell you what’s going on.”

Wasylson claimed at one time last year her son didn’t get home until 5:30 p.m. despite the school day ending shortly after 3 p.m.

“And nobody called me,” she said.

Officials from both Mars and Seneca Valley didn’t return calls for comment Monday.