***BP REYNOSO AVAILABLE FOR INTERVIEWS***
BROOKLYN, NY – Ahead of the NYC Panel for Educational Policy (PEP)’s vote tonight on a resolution opposing a five-year bus contract without employee protection provisions, Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso issued the following statement:
“150,000 of our city’s students take the bus to school every day. Nearly half of them are students with disabilities, students – who like my youngest son Andres – might be non-verbal and unable to speak up for themselves if they experience something terrible. And with 46-year-old contracts devoid of oversight and accountability, terrible things happen on our school buses all the time.
Some days, young kids ride the bus for hours. They overheat without air conditioning. They miss class. They endure lengthy delays and are left behind by buses that sometimes never stop at their homes at all.
All the while, parents are left in the dark. They spend the day wondering what time their kids arrived, if they got carsick along the way, or if they’re being cared for in the way they should. When the bus is late, the parents are late for work. And when the bus doesn’t stop, they pay out of pocket to get their kids to school.
I hear these stories all the time as Borough President, and I live these stories myself as the father of a 4-year-old with autism. City data confirms them, and news reports lay the reality bare.
Yet every few years, the worst bus operators are entrusted once again with caring for the city’s most vulnerable kids. It’s shameful, it’s embarrassing, and it’s a failure of our legal mandate. For decades now, children have been caught in the crossfire of a policy dispute between the State and the union.
Enough is enough. We are now living the worst-case scenario – where the best option is one more year of poor, undignified bus service for our kids so that the State can finally do the work they’ve spent decades delaying.
Today, I stand in solidarity with our Panel for Educational Policy (PEP) members as they vote on a resolution disavowing another five-year extension and calling for true, long-standing reform in our school bus system once and for all.
The Governor and State legislature must pass and sign into law S.1018/A.8440 to protect school bus workers’ wages and benefits, and our City must launch a competitive RFP for our bus contracts that prioritizes transparency, accountability, innovation, and a standard of service that is safe, reliable, and attentive to the needs of our youngest and most vulnerable New Yorkers.
None of us should be able to stomach this broken system any longer. For the safety of our students and the benefit of our bus drivers, it’s time for our school bus system to leave the past behind.”
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