rubysoup.com

School bus transportation for special needs students

I have had issues establishing Quincy’s bus transportation to school.  The District is now doing what they should do for her, which is to provided door-to-door transportation from our home to school, but believe me it was a major battle to accomplish this.  It was not a battle to have bus transportation included in her Individualized Education Plan (IEP)…that was easy.  It was a battle with the people who coordinate Transportation for the district to bring a bus up our driveway for Quincy’s pick-up.  We have a short, sloped driveway.  A small bus can back-up it without any trouble.  The problem is that the bus contractor only uses full-sized busses with wheelchair lifts.  They cannot bring a bus of that size up my driveway.  Thus, the stand-off began.  We live in Alaska where the weather is downright brutal during the school year.  The district Transportation people told me they would only pick up Quincy on the street at the end of our driveway.  Quincy cannot be exposed to a -25 wind chill sitting on the street waiting for a bus.  Nor is it even possible to push a wheelchair up or down an icy, snowy driveway.  However the school district Transportation people looked at my yard said they would not come up my driveway.  I told them she would not be picked up on the street.  Long story short…I won,  but it was bloody.  I won because there are always good-hearted people who work for any company that are as frustrated as any of us about bad business and injustice.  I won because an employee of the bus company called me, asked to remain anonymous, and told me that the contractor had at least three small, 4-wheel drive buses with lifts that they were using for other students.  I won because armed with that information I knew that the district Transportation people were not concerned about Quincy but about the aggravation of having to re-work their bus schedules.  I won because it is the law that the school district transport my daughter to school…in fact, the district receives a lot of federal money to do that.  If we refuse bus service you can bet the district won’t refuse these funds.  I hate using the term “I won” but I think anyone reading this that has had to deal with school districts and their children’s rights to an education would equate many of their struggles to a battle.  It was a battle because in order to get the district to do what the law required I had to pull strings, I had to get angry, my blood pressure went through the roof, I cried, I lost sleep.  It’s amazing to me that sometimes even people employed to care for our children are the ones who can be the most insensitive.  I have great respect for the district employees at Student Support Services who have really been committed to seeing that Quincy gets the education that she needs.  Among this department are some amazing, professional, and sensitive people.  Ironically, the folks who contract the bus service, as well as the bus drivers and their monitors have been really incredible people, too.  It just the middle-men, the folks who handle Transportation for the district, who could use some training on disability awareness, sensitivity and even Wright’s Law.  Maybe they should be required to read rubysoup every day.  But, I’m afraid if they read this posting I may not see another bus in my driveway for a month.  Oh well….

No comments yet.

Leave a comment