PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Lupe Hernandez, Parent of NYC Public School Student
3:46:12
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4 min
Lupe Hernandez, a parent of a New York City public school student, testified about various issues related to school bus transportation. She addressed concerns about safety, routing problems, and the need for improved communication and staffing.
- Supported Resolution 250 for cameras on school buses and addressed the danger of cars zooming past bus stops
- Highlighted issues with bus routes not being established for incoming students and those in temporary housing
- Advocated for dedicated transportation liaison positions in schools
- Discussed problems with the Via contract and Omni card system
- Proposed a School Bus Bill of Rights and emphasized the importance of Employee Protection Provisions (EPP) in future contracts
Lupe Hernandez
3:46:12
Good afternoon.
3:46:13
Thank you, chair Joseph, for holding this hearing today.
3:46:16
My name is Luca Hernandez, and I'm here speaking in my own personal capacity as a parent of a New York City public student who has been on the bus since he was two years old.
3:46:26
I've been here many, many times to speak about the long routes or even not being picked up.
3:46:32
But some things that I wanted to address today, and I'll start with the Reso 250.
3:46:39
Thank you, Council member Riley, for your all of your work and with parents and addressing the hot school buses.
3:46:46
And in regards to cameras on the side of our buses, I think it's really important because many I live on a street that's one way where my building is on the opposite side of our bus doors.
3:46:56
And as it is as it is extremely dangerous you know, having to put my son on the bus and take him off each day.
3:47:04
The matron isn't always extremely scared because cars just literally zoom past to get on the west side highway.
3:47:13
Some issues that we've been seeing in schools this year.
3:47:17
I wanna address the fact that incoming kindergarten 6th grade and 9th graders in many, many schools still continue to not have bus routes established on the 1st day of school.
3:47:27
There is a huge disconnect with the communication between the schools providing their rideshare or their ridership documents into ATS and getting it to OPTM time.
3:47:38
Most of these schools also saw that all of their students in temporary housing that had address changes due to shelter moves that were out of their control were also not given a route and still awaiting bus routes as we speak.
3:47:51
We will talk about the transportation liaisons that DOE mentioned.
3:47:58
I wanna flag that these individuals that are actually playing such a crucial role in how all of this is taking place.
3:48:06
They are not a job in itself.
3:48:09
These positions are being given to our school aids, our parent coordinators, assistant principals.
3:48:14
These are folks that have already a job to do in our school buildings, and it it's not always It's not effective to have them also taking on the role of a transportation liaison.
3:48:27
I really advocate that the DOE have this position as like a full staff paid position for each school.
3:48:34
It's important.
3:48:36
Via contracts, they've been extended with no record of a rep bid of a reputable RFP bid process.
3:48:43
And they have been proven to be non affected.
3:48:46
It's a company that was tracking parcels as opposed to other companies that has reached out to the DOE, such as easyrouter, who's a business, is actually routing and tracking school buses in huge metropolitan areas across the nation.
3:49:03
In regards to Omni, Omni excludes our students that have bus routes, which negates the purpose of access to learning opportunities outside of the classroom.
3:49:13
And this impacts our students even more because they are already left out of after school activities.
3:49:19
I also wanted to quickly uplift that parents to improve school transportation, defend the rider rights to save shorter and sustainable school bus routes for educational access.
3:49:29
We hope to put a school bus Bill of Rights referendum on next year's ballot to form a decision making body over student transportation that will involve the most effective and interested parties, organize parents and bus workers, disability activists, and educators.
3:49:45
And we are happy to hear the DOE is providing a training, but I really want to thank ATU leaders for lobbying the chancellor's office to give a refresher course to the vendors.
3:49:54
But we also want to see that curriculum because in the last 2 years, some vendors were still giving out code sheets with very offensive labels of our students diagnosis.
3:50:05
So as I conclude, I would like to repeat, yes, on Resolution 250.
3:50:13
Not yet on 5:15 till accountability goes up all the way up the ladder because we don't want to rebid the routes without EPP.
3:50:21
We need vendors to grow and some to go, but it's not worth triggering a strike by rebidding now without employee protect and provisions, which all of our members support.
3:50:31
One of the biggest hits to the bus service was when low bids without EPP displace 2000 experience workers.
3:50:37
So we would take the contract extension if the city would use the time to evaluate vendors, help get an EPP and training bill in Albany, fight the anti EPP Companies in court, and look into buying up fleets, and expanding NICE Bus, who my son has been on this past summer and school year, and it's been the bus route we've ever had in all his years in public school.
3:50:58
So thank you.
