My daughter attends public school. She has autism and a BIP. The transportation department refuses to come down our gravel private lane to pick her up at our driveway. I feel it is a safety issue. How can I solve this problem?
Negotiating with the School
Parents need to negotiate with school staff to find acceptable solutions to problems.
Request to talk with the transportation director.
Read your state laws and regulations about bus transportation for public school students before you meet – this will give you a good idea of what is required in your state.
My first thought after reading your question was “Why can’t she transport her child to the hard surface road?”
We live in a rural area in Virginia where many families live on farms with homes at the end of long, unpaved driveways.
When school lets out, we see many parents sitting in cars by the paved road, waiting for the school bus so they can drive their kids home.
Is this a possibility?
Does the IEP Include Transportation?
I will presume that your daughter has an IEP. Transportation is a “related service” like speech therapy, OT, etc.
If her IEP does not include door-to-door transportation and you can’t persuade the transportation director to help, you may need to request an IEP meeting to amend her IEP to include this door-to-door transportation.
More Solutions to the Transportation Issue
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We put my son in an autistic school because he is extremely low functioning and nonverbal, behavior issues, and wearing diapers at age 7. He was doing terrible at public school but now is thriving. They refuse to give us transportation because he is on a scholarship and we chose to put him in the autistic school. It is over 30 minutes also. The district already has a bus that transports other kids to his autistic school, but they said they were district placed and Jaxson wasn’t so he can’t ride with them also.
The bus driver said she has plenty of room and even has a kid on there on scholarship like my son. Is there really no way to get my son transportation or negotiate that he be on that bus with the other kids. The district school is right down the street so it would be so easy for them to let him ride on it as well. But they keep saying they are not obligated. Is there really nothing that can be done?
Rebekah, Since the district sends students to that school, why are they not enrolling your child and sending him there? You pay taxes to the district, and they would get some state funding that way.
believe that legally the district does not have to provide transportation. A complaint to the state education department about this is an option. I also suggest you contact your state federally funded parent training, and information project.
https://www.parentcenterhub.org/find-your-center/
My daughter lives in drug infested area with multiple pedophiles and that she has to walk through school issues I need help with transportation.
My son has behavioral issues and he has an bip. He rides a regular bus. I haven’t been in on an iep meeting in the last two years. There’s 2 months left of school and he’s being put on a handicapped bus. What are my options when his iep says that he should be on one
There is an old (1984)1st Circuit decision, Hurry v. Jones, that discusses transportation in a great decision for parents. However, due to its age, limited jurisdiction, and several revisions of the federal law, it should be reviewed carefully by an attorney to see whether it can be used in transportation cases as persuasive authority.
http://www.leagle.com/decision/19841613734F2d879_11474/HURRY%20v.%20JONES