Lawmakers and parents urge city DOE to immediately provide transportation for students with disabilities

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Last Thursday, Senator John Liu joined other lawmakers to demand that the city immediately provide transportation for students with disabilities who began school at the start of the month.

According to the elected officials, many severely disabled students in New York City attend 4201 schools, which are private institutions that cater to individuals with deafness, visual impairment and emotional disturbance. The city’s Department of Education is required to provide school bus transportation with appropriately trained staff to bring students to and from the schools classified as 4201 institutions, as it had been for years.

But NYC-based families were informed at the end of August that the school buses would not be running until Sept. 13 and were instead offered MetroCards or taxi services as a consolation.

Parents and officials complained that other school districts in the state were reportedly able to provide adequate bus transportation for their students who attend these schools, which typically begin on Sept. 1.