ARANSAS PASS, Texas Parents at Faulk Elementary School say staffing issues are creating confusion for students, but Aransas Pass Independent School District disputes that any general education teaching positions are vacant.Sama ntha Lance, a parent of a first grader at Faulk, says she wants to trust that staff know where her son is throughout the school day. But she says one afternoon, that didn't happen."For my child personally, he has been in some tutoring program... he is a first grader and he just got left behind at the office, sat there for about 45 minutes until I get a call... that I didn't come pick him up from school. So he never made it to where he was supposed to go," Lance said.Lance says her son was safe inside the school, but the experience raised questions about how students are accounted for when routines change. She says parents have seen students moved or reassigned when teachers or substitutes are unavailable.Another Faulk parent, Lucia Cole, says she has experienced similar confusion with her daughter."I would come up and request my daughter to leave early and they would spend 20 minutes just trying to find out where she was. A couple of instances when I would go have lunch with her and I didn't know that her classroom was split that day. So she was put in another class and she didn't know that teacher's name," Cole said.Cole says the changes can be confusing for younger students and wants the district to better communicate with families about when and why those changes happen."Say, hey, look, we know where we're messing up and we know what's going on and we know we have a shortage, but we're trying... I wanna know what they're doing as a parent. So what are you doing to help resolve the substitute teaching? What are you doing to help resolve the teacher shortage?" Cole said.Aransas Pass ISD disputes that there are vacant general education teaching positions. After word got out that I was speaking to parents, the district called to leave a statement saying all of those positions are filled. The district says temporary staff absences can require classroom adjustments, but that substitute teachers are used to keep instruction going. The district also says students remain under adult supervision and that staff follow procedures to keep track of students throughout the school day.Lance says she wants more than just reassurances."I'd like to see transparency. I would like to see more parent involvement, more opportunities that are organized for parent involvement... at the end of the day, it's about our children's education," Lance said.Both parents say they are not looking to criticize the district they want to be part of the solution. They say they have spoken with Superintendent Bobby Bennett about establishing a PTA or PTO to give parents a more formal way to get involved.Cole says she has already seen some changes after parents raised concerns, including more staff in the school cafeteria."I just wanted to be a voice for my daughter and for my daughter's friends and for this community. Be outspoken, go show up, communicate... biggest thing we can do for our kids is show up and want to be a part and want to change and want to communicate," Cole said.The district says it welcomes feedback from families and is working to strengthen communication and transparency.This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy. ...read more read less