Res 0610-2018

By Council Member Yeger Whereas, The Department of Education's (DOE) Office of Pupil Transportation (OPT) operates the largest school transportation system in the country with more than 600,000 New York City students receiving transportation services annually; and Whereas, OPT provides four types of school transportation services to students: general education transportation, specialized transportation, student Metro Cards, and Pre-K and early intervention transportation; and Whereas, Students receiving special education services who have mandated specialized transportation on their Individualized Education Plan receive school bus services, and other students eligibility for school bus services depend on their grade level and the distance they live from school; and Whereas, According to Chancellor's Regulations A-801, students in grades K-2 must live a half of a mile or more away from their school to be eligible for school bus services, students in grades 3-6 must live a mile or more away from their school to be eligible for school bus services and students in grades 7-8 must live 1.5 miles or more away from their schools to be eligible for school bus services; and Whereas, Many students who are ineligible for school bus transportation walk or take public transportation to and from their school; and Whereas, Parents argue that public transportation, provided by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), services are unreliable; and Whereas, According to a 2017 Comptroller Scott Stringer report, 65 percent of parents indicated that they had been late to drop-off, pick-up, or attend a child's event in the last three months because of subway delays; and Whereas, As reported by the New York Times, the average number of train delays in a month increased from about 20,000 in 2012 to over 67,450 in May 2017; and Whereas, Students, like many New Yorkers, are negatively affected by train delays, and when students are late to school due to train delays they miss important academic instruction; and Whereas, There have also been reports of attempted kidnapping of students who were traveling from school, and many parents who are unable to take their children to school do not feel safe about their children traveling alone; and Whereas, In May 2018, Zhu Lin Shi allegedly attempted to abduct students walking home from school in Brooklyn during three separate incidents; and Whereas, Some advocates argue that OPT school bus services, although not perfect, are a safer form of transportation to school than public transportation; and Whereas, While OPT provides transportation to 600,000 students, only about 25 percent of these students receive school bus services and most of the others receive student Metro Cards for public transportation; and Whereas, MTA transportation services are unreliable and it is unsafe for young students to travel alone to school; now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York calls upon the New York City Department of Education's Office of Pupil Transportation to expand school busing services to all public and nonpublic elementary and middle school students who live more than a half of a mile away from their school. LS #8126 10/23/2018 KJ