Families demand refund after bus no-show for school trip

ATHENS, Ga. - Some parents are upset and demanding a refund after charter buses failed to show up for a school field trip.

Fifth-graders and their chaperones at Oglethorpe Avenue Elementary School in Athens paid a company for the ride to Tybee Island this week. The students took the trip but had to get on regular school buses to get there.

Jay Nackashi, a parent of one of the students, told FOX 5 the ordeal was a big inconvenience. The students left the school four hours behind schedule.

"He left these kids scrambling and with us having to find something else to do," Nackashi said.

Clarke County Schools Spokesperson Anisa Jimenez said the parents paid Hargrave Motor Coach more than $5,000 for the job.

"We are really confused as to why a company would call the day before a trip only to call the next day and say they had sold their business in December and were out of business," Jimenez said.

She added school leaders are working to get a refund. Nackashi prefers any refunded money to first go to the school bus drivers who helped the students at the last minute.

FOX 5 called Hargrave Motor Coach Friday. An unidentified man, on a voicemail, said messages would be returned Monday.