Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal

Melady Mata, left, waves to her mother and baby sister as she and her other sister, Yoselin, think they hear the bus coming to take them to their first day of classes at Park Avenue Elementary in Auburn on Wednesday. It turned out not to be their bus, and after waiting 15 minutes after the bus was supposed to be there, their mother, Celia, decided to drive them to school so they would not be late.