Transportation Problems continues

	Back to Autism Information >> Next Topic
	My son's new teacher and 1:1 are so concerned about the people that were transporting my son to school that my son's 1:1 offer in addition  to ride with my son to and from school.  My son's new teacher at the regional program tells us that this situation is going to be damaging to my son. The LEA refused their offer and chooses to keep the current aid.  Why I don't know but I think she must be related to someone and the LEA is not happy with us for forcing them to place our son out of district.  Worse yet i noticed when they brought my son home Friday he was in the middle position in a belt positoning booster with only a lap belt.  This very dangerous if they were to get in an accident.  They have to take the interstate to get my son to school so they travel at a high rate of speed. So I sent the letter out like tzoya reccomended and informed them about the safty issure in persona  and writing.  We are taking my son to school in the AM but my husband puts his job at risk by doing so.  I have  to get my other two kids to school. We cannot pick him up or my other two will be left to come home alone after school. They are too young for that. Only other option is for all of them to go to school late and be picked up early everyday.  They would have to miss almost 2 hours of school each day.  My girls are not in SE so it would not be tolerated not to mention it would affect their education adversly. So I sent the emails documenting the problem and we have an advocate working on it also. We also have one stubborn, full of false pride school system to deal with. Wish us luck.  We shall never give up till he is not only educated properly but also safe. I wish BOTH of us luck!  Just so you don't feel so alone, we are having a similar problem. It is now the 3rd week of school and ds has no bus.  Bus showed up 1st day, it was a standard bus, 30 young(?) adults (ages 16-21), all with ED dx that attend one certain school for "troubled" teens(?).  Matron took one look at my son and said "he's on this bus? There must be a mistake". Well, no mistake - budget cuts is what we were told.  My son is 11, only dx is autistic, in his 8 1/2 years of bussing he has always had a mini bus with 8-10 similiarly aged kids. We've written the letters, called in complaints, even to news media.  Handed in Dr.'s notes, Principal is working on it STILL. Husband has been driving him back and forth almost every day (we've had to keep him home a few times because we couldn't get him to school).  I have another child that goes to a different school and its not fair to her to be late. Yes, you are 100% right - its a SAFETY issue.  If something does happen, what good is suing going to do (dh solution), the damage will be done. We even went to a lawyer and they said its not a battle worth fighting as eventually these Administrative people will wisen up and realize the liability involved in these ridiculous decisions. Hang in there, we can only do the best we can for them. (Sorry to rant in your thread) OMG, putting an 11 year old with kids 16-21 with ED?  Are they crazy?  With the cost of gas they are cutting every corner they can but they cannot put our children at risk. Try tzoya's suggestion of the strongly worded letter because I "think" it is sort of working for us. After the SE Director got my letter (figured I could do it better than a lawyer with all the practice I've had lately) he called back and said he will allow my son's 1:1 ride with him to and from school. I told them just what she said.  That I would hold them personally responsible for my son's safety.  I put in all my concerns and the concerns of his current teacher and aid.  I told them after all this if they insist on forcing the car aid on my son then they must be willing to accept full responsibility for their actions. Of course I had no intention of letting him in that car with her but he didn't know that. Rant away! I honestly don't know what some of these so called professionals are thinking when they sit in  those offices.  They need to come down and walk a day in our kids shoes.  MY NT daughters are not allowed to ride on a bus with kids that age.  The buses are broken down for the three stages (for the NT kids)  K-5, 6-8, 9-12 ride the buses together.  Good luck to you! I face a sort of similar issue with our school system. The bus for my ds not only has the 4th and 5th graders, it also transports the high school students. I pulled ds from the bus in 3rd grade because of behavior issues. Not only his but those of other children on the bus. The last straw was when an older ( she was 13 ) girl held my ds down so that 2 younger girls could hit, kick and scratch him. The bus driver did nothing...the B.O.E. basically slapped him on the wrist for not supervising better. The other parents did talk with me and all of the children apologized and were disciplined ( including my son, for starting it ). This year I asked about alternate transportation because with my health issues it is getting very hard for me to sit and wait for him in the afternoons. So far, they have offered no solution. The one and only offer of an idea was strongly objected to by ds...he has extreme issues about my being there, being on time at the end of the school day and they know this. Anyone have any suggestions? From checking out the links in my other thread I suggest having an IEP meeting and getting all that you want in the IEP for safty issues.  You could even add goals for his behavior on the bus and maybe get an aid written in since he has to ride with older children and he needs to be safe. I plan to call an IEP for my son transportation issues as soon as his teacher comes back from training.  I was told that there is the regular bus ( no monitor, no aid ) or my transporting him to and from. The one suggestion was that he wait with the teachers outside ( rear entrance of the school ) until it was my turn to come around to pick him up. My son has extreme issues with my being there/being on time...he flatly refused to even consider this solution ( not to mention that it still leaves me sitting in the car waiting to pick him up ).  Pushing it on him will cause a major meltdown, which we have not had so far this school year. Heck, it's about to cause me to have a major meltdown, I plan asking for a meeting ASAP and on writing and calling the school super. about this issue. I lucked out the past 2 years cuz my husband worked for the same school bus company (part time job I mentioned in another post) that picked up my kids. Since he knew everyone and the one that managed it, there was never a problem. I ran into our old bus driver the other day and she said, the company is just going nuts with drivers' problems. Her son, also special needs but older, was dropped off in a parking lot and left there--she went to pick him up at the place he was supposed to be dropped off and he hadn't arrived yet. She finally found the driver that was assigned that day, and he had no clue where the day facility was, so dropped the kid off in the same parking lot...figuring the child (unable to go across the street alone) would know where it was. A girl I knew here at one time, her son has high functioning Asperger's. They put him on a bus that had all behavioral problem kids. He was terrorized. They were much older than him--maybe by 5-8 years, and did nothing but throw things around the bus and yell obscenities at him. She drove him every year after that..even in high school, he wouldn't go near a bus. I am bringing up ours, once again and the fact that, they are driving my kids around the block for 20 minutes. I don't want them on the bus that long--I don't want them on the bus at all, with the school directly behind me. If they can't have someone there at 8:10 to meet me, they better assign someone, or the principal will have to take over. Imagine being on a bus in 80 degree mornings, full humidity, for 20 minutes cuz the driver doesn't get that--he doesn't have to be at my house until 5 minutes before school starts? It has been addressed before, and this time, I am insisting to get rid of bus and have someone there to greet me when I drop them off. We pay privately for our buses here. It comes out of our own pockets. They better do something or I am going to start writing the newspaper on all that is going on. My other two, this morning, ended up in Blue Valley school district--not even CLOSE to where my school district is--total opposite direction. He never called anyone when the kids kept telling him he was going the wrong way. It wasnt until an hour later that he called and found out, he was lost. UGH! God Bless, Kelly They tell you regular bus with no aid or you transporting him? I say bull!  If the regular ed kids get bussing to and from school then your son gets the same.  If the IEP team (Which you are a part of) decides that your son needs a bus aid plus bus safty goals put in his IEP he gets those things.  It is their responsibility to keep him safe while in their charge.  If this what your son needs then NEVER give up till he has it.  It is not too much to ask. Try tzoya's suggestion of a strongly worded letter holding them personally responsible for your son's safty.  She suggested getting a lawyer to write it but I did it my self and it has solved the problem for now.  I'm sure there will be something else come up sooner or later.  zayzer, I have asked for an IEP meeting to discuss this and other issues. Will update asap. Willow The school district cannot simply say they will not put a one-on-one aide on the big bus for your son.  This is a reasonable accommodation. Call and IEP meeting and get transportation goals and all the specifics written into his IEP.  IF they insist that they cannot put an aide on the big bus, take them to a Hearing. I would even do this without a lawyer at this point.  It seems like quite a clear case of not supporting the needs of a disabled student.  well, seems just my asking for the meeting got the ball rolling, lol One issue settled... I no longer have to wait for Jake at the end of the day nor is he going to be riding the bus. ( which I did not want to happen, but did not tell them that ) He will be waiting in the office at the end of the school day and I will pick him up there. At most he will have a 10 minute wait.
	Copyright Autism-PDD.net