When your city can’t perform the most basic educational functions like getting kids to school on time, it’s time for drastic action.

This is what it’s come down to in Boston, where 40% of buses still aren’t leaving or getting to school on time – an absolutely disgraceful record of incompetence.

But not to Mayor Michelle Wu.

In a long Substack post, an overly optimistic and cheerful Wu (she goes by Wutrain) blamed parents and bus drivers for the disastrous first week of school.

“Overall, Boston Public Schools (BPS) has had a very successful start to the school year thanks to the hard work of educators and administrators preparing all summer with facilities improvements, food service prep, academic planning and family engagement,” Wu wrote.

Of course, if the buses can’t get the kids to school, how would we know about all these great things?

“Our talented and extremely hard working BPS transportation team juggles unthinkable complexity and makes real-time adjustments to serve tens of thousands of families,” she blathered on. “This year we’ve had challenges with the first few days of transportation, so with the first full week of school in the rearview mirror, I wanted to share how busing works, why we worked to introduce new technology this year, and how all this fits into our roadmap for BPS transportation that is safe, reliable and efficient.”

I’ll spare you all the details but basically Wu visited her transportation team on Monday and was assured that things are going to be better.

“This year, we’ve had a major dip in on-time yellow bus arrivals in the first week of school as we adjust to some major changes implementing a first-ever real-time bus tracking app for families, and an unprecedented wave of new registrations right as school was starting,” she wrote. “This year we had much more widespread delays; some schools waited for several hours after dismissal time for buses to pick up students for the ride home.”

And here come the excuses: a new app called Zum that drivers are having trouble getting used to, and an “unexpected surge” in new registrations that caused last minute changes in the bus schedules.

These excuses are unacceptable. It’s hard enough for parents to get kids to go to school in Boston, and most parents have to work – meaning they have to rely on buses being on time. If the buses are late there’s a ripple effect – parents are late for work or have to get out of work to pick up their kids.

Nowhere in her long post did Wu apologize or hold herself and the school superintendent accountable for the problems.

But she should be accountable. The school system is run by her own hand-picked superintendent, Mary Skipper, and school department, over which she has total control.

When the buses were late under Mayor Tom Menino, he got angry and demanded changes. Wu just smiles and has her head in the sand.

It’s her attitude that permeates the system. Wu’s school spokesman, Max Baker, has taken to writing long, unclever emails to the media quoting Alice Cooper and talking about switching from rum to martinis to start the school year.

“Hi gang, Where did summer go man?” Baker writes. “It seems like just yesterday, I was peeling away from the office, windows down and blaring out “School’s Out” by Alice Cooper. I was thinking about all the days I would be sitting by the beach, wearing shorts all day, drinking mai tais…And while I am mourning the loss of my care-free fruity rum drinks (I am switching back to martinis because they really take the edge off), I can think of 500 people who are absolutely stoked to be back in school.”

Maybe an intoxicated staffer was in charge of the school bus plan.

But don’t worry, mayor. Just grab a martini, put on “Smoking in the Boys’ Room” and wish the problems away.

Mayor Michelle Wu (Nancy Lane/Boston Herald, File)