Angry parents have claimed their children have been left in “no man’s land” by two councils passing the buck over school buses.
The families live in the Carse of Gowrie, but the pupils attend Harris Academy in Dundee.
They are worried the children will have to spend hours getting to and from the school when it moves to a new location at the start of next term while its Perth Road premises are rebuilt.
The decant to the former Rockwell High, several miles away on Lawton Road, will last for three years.
Parent Mandy Trickett said: “Until now, these children can travel by public bus to Harris Academy’s doors on the Perth Road.
“There is now no direct route to the Lawton Road site and the councils suggest these children as young as 12 travel at 6.30am to Dundee city centre, wait 30 minutes then transfer to another public bus to Lawton Road.
“As parents, we feel our children are being discriminated against.”
Dr Glenn Bryan felt that travelling into the city then switching buses would not be feasible, partly because of the length of time journeys would take and partly because of the risk of pupils being stranded if there were problems with the bus services.
“In my view, the problem has a lot to do with Dundee City Council as they moved the school to such an inaccessible location for a small but appreciable number of pupils and they cannot distance themselves from this issue,” Dr Bryan added.
A Perth and Kinross Council spokesman said: “Pupils who live in Invergowrie and Kingoodie are entitled to free school transport to Harris Academy at Lawton Road in Dundee, because that is their catchment area school and there is a distance of more than three miles between these villages and the school site.
“Pupils from other areas of Perth and Kinross whose parents have chosen for them to attend Harris but live outside the catchment area for the school are not entitled to free school transport.
“The council has written to the parents of non-entitled children in the Carse of Gowrie who attend Harris Academy to assist them with making public transport arrangements to attend school during the decant period.
“We have also spoken with Dundee City Council in an effort to coordinate public transport arrangements.”
A city council spokesman said: “Pupils who live in the Harris Academy catchment area, more than a mile away from the Rockwell building, are entitled to free transport during the period of the decant.
“The city council is making significant arrangements for Dundee pupils in the catchment area of the secondary as it moves to its temporary home from August.”
The comments were attacked by the parents, with Mrs Trickett saying they were “hiding behind policy” and leaving the children disadvantaged by failing to provide a solution to the transport problem.
Dr Bryan said: “We are not asking for free travel, we just want a better bus service that ideally would get the kids to Rockwell in one bus journey.
“Dundee City Council keep putting out the same statement without admitting they are making it extremely difficult for many pupils to get to the new school.”