BATON ROUGE - Just days into a new school year, students are already having troubles getting to class or getting there without breaking a sweat. It's why parents showed up the East Baton Rouge School Board's emergency meeting on Monday evening.

"There's no reason that any bus here be without air conditioning. You would not go get in your cars and drive home without the air conditioning on in the summer. Don't expect our kids to do it," a speaker said.

Many parents took to the podium asking Superintendent Sito Narcisse to take responsibility for the mess.

"A couple board members in the past have called you visionary, this is not the case. If you want to change our minds get the priorities straight and if you're still looking for another job, I hear that East Baton Rouge Parish is looking for bus drivers," a speaker said.

Even board members were quick to throw the superintendent under the bus for a lack of communication.

"The bar has been set so low, that the expectation for the first two weeks of school is totally hit or miss if the bus is going to show up for your kid. I can't set that on the shoulders of the superintendent became that low but I can put it on the shoulders of this administration that it was never raised," Boardmember Nathan Rust said.

The school system's transportation department says there are a few reasons for the rough start. The school system has seen the number of drivers employed drop by over 100 just this summer. Meanwhile, the starting annual salary for bus drivers is $19,150 which is about $10K less than neighboring parishes. Drivers say busses are old and can break down easily. 

"A lot of what was said tonight needed to be said. Our board accepts that challenge, and the superintendent accepts that challenge, and we're going to do a better job point blank period," School Board President Dadrius Lanus said.