Parents fret as bug jumbles classes
For the 150,000 city families who rely on yellow school buses to get their kids to school, last week’s announcement of a partial reopening did little to ease nagging concerns about how their chldren will get to class.
It’s an especially pressing question for families of tens of thousands of students with complex disabilities who require the supervision and support of bus matrons and paraprofessionals.
“For people who cannot get to school unless there is busing, if the bus is not safe either, they’re denied the access,” said Sara Catalinotto, a longtime public school parent and leader of the group Parents to Improve School Transportation. “We need to be working on both things very thoughtfully, not from the top down.”
The city’s patchwork of private bus contractors have been idle since schools shuttered in March, and officials stopped paying out bus contracts in late April amid looming budget concerns, forcing the furloughs of roughly 14,000 bus company workers.
An Education Department spokeswoman said the agency plans to prioritize busing this fall for students with disabilities — many of whom are required to receive yellow bus transportation as part of their Individual Education Plans. The agency is also exploring partnerships with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and with the Taxi & Limousine Commission to offer more options, the spokeswoman said.
But families who depend on the yellow buses worry the city’s compressed timetable for restarting the sprawling, already-strained system could lead to even more chaos.
“It’s just very scary and it just needs to not be haphazard,” said Catalinotto. “What we don’t like is busing tends to be the last thought and that really impacts a big population in the schools.”
Assigning bus pickup schedules, mapping out routes and giving drivers time to practice their runs is a complex sequence that usually starts in the spring. But with bus companies out of business and drivers furloughed, parents and advocates worry there won’t be enough time to prepare for a fall reopening that already promises to be more complicated than usual, with alternating groups of students traveling to school on different days.
Bus companies and union officials warned in the spring when contracts were yanked they would need lead time to address any mechanical issues with the dormant vehicles and renew inspections before resuming operations in the fall.
Carolyn Daly Brink, a representative for a coalition of city bus companies, said city officials have not yet reached out about reopening plans, but “we have been and continue to be eager and ready to speak to the DOE as the school years gets closer.” The recent city budget includes full funding for busing starting in the fall.
Families who rely on school buses say MetroCards and cab fare reimbursements can provide some relief in a jam, but can’t replace yellow buses, which often come with trained staff to supervise kids.
And even if the yellow bus system does get up and running again for the fall, lots of questions remain about how it will happen safely. In a recent survey of more than 300,000 families and 100,000 students, 75% of families and 65% of students said it was very important for bus drivers and attendants to wear masks.
The Education Department’s plan to send students to school every two or three days to reduce numbers in school buildings could also make it easier to socially distance on buses — providing there’s enough buses. Families have also long complained about malfunctioning windows and air conditioners on aging city buses — an even more important consideration now because ventilation helps keep the virus at bay.
The lack of transportation clarity makes it nearly impossible for Bronx mom Amy Tsai to decide whether she’ll send her son back to school this fall.
“Us not knowing these things for the bus is not comfortable for me,” she said. “I’m just really unsure at this point to be honest.”
She hopes she’ll get more details before the city’s deadline for parents to decide if they’ll opt for only remote learning this fall.
Catalinotto, the parent leader, says the only way city officials can safely restart the bus system on time is by bringing parents, union officials and companies into the planning process.