State: BPS issues violated students’ right to services
In a letter sent to Boston Public Schools Superintendent Mary Skipper on Friday, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education said an investigation found the district’s transportation issues violated students’ rights to special education services.
“The findings in the preceding sections of this letter indicate that the District did comply with some of its obligations under federal and state requirements,” DESE officials wrote in the letter.
Several families issued a joint complaint with Greater Boston Legal Services and Massachusetts Advocates for Children in October, outlining incidents in which the district failed to provide students with oneon-one and specially trained bus monitors, families notification of transportation issues, or just any transportation at all — in effect denying the students their right to a free appropriate public education.
In many of these incidents, “students’ families are required to (provide transportation), causing financial and other burdens,” the letter states, and systemic failures have “deprived many students of their education due to ongoing absences and late arrivals resulting from lack of or delayed transportation.”
The state reviewed parent reports of bus issues in the last year, finding 3,469 coded “Missed Stop,” 775 “Late Bus,” 736 “Stranded Student,” 721 “Bus Monitor,” 597 “Other,” and 236 “Blown Route” or “Uncovered Route.”
In the fall of the 202223 school year, an average of 16.4% of buses were still dropping off students late or not at all, the letter states.
These wide-scale issues had an especial impact on students with disabilities, the investigation found, including the “key deficiency” of bus monitors.
“The District reported that approximately 35— 40% of monitor-required routes have not had a designated monitor assigned to the route during the 20222023 school year,” the letter reads.
The issues, the district reported, are in part exacerbated by an “ongoing and significant shortage of transportation personnel.” In a statement, the district noted the recently launched
Transportation Advisory Council and ongoing efforts to address bussing issues.
The letter ordered the district to take several steps, including personal repayments to five families effected, hiring a “Manager of Special Education Transportation Compliance” by June and submitting a plan to address the issues outlined to DESE by May, among other requirements.
“Our team continues to address the systemic challenges and ongoing inconsistencies with transportation for students with disabilities,” BPS said in a statement. “We have an obligation to improve the safety, reliability, and timeliness of our transportation services for our students and families and this is especially true for students with disabilities.”