My mom, a single working mother, always made sure we were up on time and fed and dressed. She had to leave for work about 25 minutes before we left for the bus. So, we're up on time, we're ready to go to school, but the bus driver decided to be early that day without warning, despite having been late the day before. So we go to walk to the bus at the time we are supposed to but the bus has come and gone.

So, what do we do? Call mom and tell her that the bus came early now she needs to turn around and be late for work to take us?

That's her paycheck. That's bills not getting paid, that's food not getting bought.

Sometimes it is not the student or the parents fault the child misses the bus.

When my high school decided to change their start time between my Freshman and Sophomore year (2010) from 8:15am to 7:50am they didn't send out any notification, no phone call, nothing, except the hours changed on the website. It was not publicized before the end of previous term, nor over the summer. So my first day I miss the bus, along with about 8 kids from my neighborhood and several others when we all reconvened and talked amongst ourselves.

That isn't the fault of the parent or the student either. Sometimes you can do everything right and still fail, that's just part of life.