PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Charlize Ellis, Parent of a Student with Special Needs
3:58:32
·
3 min
Charlize Ellis, a parent of a student with special needs, testified about various challenges faced in school bus transportation for her son. She highlighted issues with bus tracking, paraprofessional staffing, staff training, and complaint handling.
- Raised concerns about lack of access to NYC School Account for bus tracking
- Discussed difficulties with paraprofessional staffing and its impact on her son's ability to attend school
- Emphasized the need for better training of bus staff to work with nonverbal children and those with special needs
- Criticized the short wait time policy for school buses, which doesn't account for the needs of children with disabilities
Charlize Ellis
3:58:32
Good afternoon.
3:58:33
Thank you for that background from your end.
3:58:36
I'm a painter with Guachao that's in an orthopedic school.
3:58:41
A few things I would like to touch one tip.
3:58:43
K?
3:58:44
Is his current school.
3:58:46
He does not have the NYC School Account Access School.
3:58:51
So he attends my son attends an armed public school that has not yet been issued their access calls from Office of Non Public Schools Data Team.
3:59:01
They've been requesting it since May of 2020, 2024.
3:59:09
So, yes, I the access to be able to track the rides and the buses, which we still have not yet been able to do.
3:59:26
Actually, it is the school bus powers.
3:59:32
School bus power my son who has a multiple diagnosis.
3:59:35
So he does require, as all of her, it says IUP to have a school.
3:59:40
Of bus power to travel with him since seizures and other disabilities.
3:59:44
The power is actually from a vendor, so it's not from the school, and the process behind that is a little expensive sometimes.
3:59:54
So if they the dentist does not have a power available at that time, then my son can't go to school, and then it's a waiting game until they find someone to fill the spot.
4:00:05
The first staff is not fully trained for kids that's nonverbal.
4:00:11
My son is nonverbal.
4:00:12
He also has the wheelchair, and he also has other issues.
4:00:17
The staff, all of us, drivers should be trained to know how to work with kids that are nonverbal, how to understand body language of these kids.
4:00:28
As well as, I disagree with the wait time for a bus in the mornings or for drop offs.
4:00:34
They say that it's been noted that the bus time to wait is one minute.
4:00:39
After one minute, they are allowed to leave.
4:00:42
Kids that have special needs sometimes have meltdown or issues during the morning, which can cause a little bit more of a time to get downstairs for her to get your child onto a bus.
4:00:52
So a general child may need one minute or a half 1 minute and then a bus can work, especially in each child that requires a wheelchair or any other issue.
4:01:07
It's about 30 minutes up weeks, 30 minutes of a time before it gets to a a parent's house ceremony and does not have any issues or any validation given to us.
4:01:19
OTC complaints and their issues.
4:01:23
I found almost new complaints over this last week.
4:01:29
It was throughout the major engines.
UNKNOWN
4:01:36
Thank you for your testimony.
4:01:37
Your time has expired.
Charlize Ellis
4:01:42
Sure.
4:01:43
Well, Matthew, please remove the ignorance, and nothing was done regarding welcome.
4:01:49
Thanks that I hadn't.
4:01:51
The school had both leads on team.
4:01:54
Of course, access.
4:01:55
Okay.
4:01:57
And now forward that.
