Thousands of NYC students with disabilities may not have school buses at beginning of year, nonprofit says
New York City public schools will open their doors to students Thursday to begin a new academic year, but thousands of students with special needs and their families are questioning how they're going to get there.
According to the organization Advocates For Children, an estimated 2,000 city students with disabilities are about to start the school year with no transportation lined up.
The organization sent CBS News New York what it says is a letter the Department of Education sent to school leaders in August.
"Due to a shortage of available school bus vendors and increased transportation needs, some yellow bus routes may not have a vendor available to operate the route at the start of the school year," it reads, in part.
The letter also says the DOE is providing free rideshare vouchers as an interim option, but because these are students with disabilities, parents must accompany their children to and from school in these rideshares, which may not be easy for working parents.
One mom in Queens whose son has autism told CBS News New York the vouchers only pay for the parent to be taken home after their child is dropped off, but will not cover the parent being taken straight to work afterwards or picked up from work in the afternoon for pickup.
That mom said she decided a while ago to take days off from work Thursday and Friday to get her son to school herself. She doesn't know if or when her son's bus will come Thursday morning, and she says she's not waiting around to find out.
CBS News New York reached out to the DOE for an update on whether it has been able to find bus vendors for these families at the 11th hour, but we did not hear back.
