BOSTON — School bus delays were the topic of conversation at a Boston City Council hearing Tuesday, a problem that has plagued the district for months.
Dozens of Boston Public School (BPS) parents made their voices heard, whether in person, over Zoom, or in writing.
Over Zoom, Laurie Murphy told the council, “This past year has been the worst by far in relation to buses being late or cancelled.”
Mildred Lewis said, “Nine times out of 10, there is a delay. If one child is late, the ripple effect is damaging.”
Marie-Frances Rivera spoke to the council in person about the bus delays she’s experienced with her third grader. She said that with the chronic delays, many BPS families have had to get creative.
“Today, there was a 45-minute delay in the morning. Some families do wait because they don’t have another choice. Other families have banded together in smaller groups to take turns to bring the kids to school,” Rivera said.
For Kelsey Brendel who’s 12-year-old has special needs, her presence was about making sure that students of all abilities have a seat at the table.
“We really need to focus on how their needs command an additional level of attention,” Brendel said.
After dozens of parent accounts, city council directed their attention and questions to BPS Transportation’s executive director, Dan Rosengard who acknowledged that while some issues surrounding bus delays have been addressed, there is still work to be done.
“This is a system that has underperformed families for basically its entire existence. Our work is not done until 100% of those families can rely on the bus,” Rosengard said. “Our focus has been on how we make consistent, steady incremental improvements over time. That change has not come fast enough. It will never come fast enough. Turning around a system of this size takes time.”
With 19,000 students receiving transportation across 200 schools, Councilor Erin Murphy, who filed for the hearing, said she wants to know how the funding is being spent.
“As student enrollment goes down, we’re continuing to spend up to $200M a year on buses, so we should have a much better system,” Councilor Murphy said.
Chair of the education committee, Councilor Julia Mejia, said the council may start implementing $500 fines per late bus. It’s a tool that has been available to them through their contract with BPS, but has never been exercised.
“I’m encouraged because I think accountability requires us to our jobs too and so I’m hoping the fines will help change the way we’re doing business,” Councilor Mejia said.
With the hearing extending through the full three hours, Councilor Mejia said she plans on initiating a second hearing to ask additional questions to BPS and provide updates on what she hopes will be an improvement.
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