PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Molly Senack, Education and Unemployment Community Organizer from Center for Independence of the Disabled New York (CIDNY)
3:13:04
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174 sec
Molly Senack, representing the Center for Independence of the Disabled New York, testified about the challenges faced by students with disabilities using the NYC yellow bus system. She highlighted issues such as long travel times, delays, and staffing shortages, emphasizing their impact on student attendance and participation in school activities.
- Senack presented statistics on the high percentage of students with disabilities using the bus system and the legal limits on travel times.
- She supported the passage of Intro 515, which would collect data to address these issues.
- Senack mentioned recommendations from the Arise Coalition, including reconsidering bus contracts, expanding training, and improving communication.
Molly Senack
3:13:04
Hi.
3:13:04
My name is Molly Sanak, and I am defined today on behalf of Center for Independence of the disabled New York.
3:13:10
I am our education unemployment community organizer.
3:13:13
So there are certain things that we already know about students who take the yellow bus system in New York City.
3:13:19
We know that 43% of these students have at least one disability.
3:13:23
We know that unless otherwise noted on a student's IEP, a student is legally allowed to spend up to 90 minutes in each direction on the bus every day if they are traveling within a burrow, and they are legally allowed to spend up to a 115 minutes if traveling between burrows, which is not uncommon in a city where almost 69% of the schools are not considered physically accessible.
3:13:50
We know from data analyzed by the New York City Council in 2022 that these travel times despite already being long are often exceeded, and school buses are delayed in average of 45 minutes for students with disabilities.
3:14:04
We know that students who depend on these buses that can show up late or not at all or without the professional services they are entitled to.
3:14:16
Students are missing classes.
3:14:18
If not entire school days, which is contributing to New York City's 36% rate of chronic absenteeism.
3:14:26
We know that because buses don't run past 4 PM, students who do not have access to alternative methods of transportation, are often unable to participate in school programs or activities that exceed that time.
3:14:38
And we know that staffing shortages mean that students are not guaranteed an adequately trained attendant, power professional or nurse, even if one is required.
3:14:47
However, we don't know exactly how many are missing.
3:14:51
We don't know exactly what those shortages are.
3:14:54
The Arise Coalition recently submitted a set of recommendations to address these issues.
3:14:59
These recommendations include reconsidering contracts with transportation companies and requiring them to provide busing outside of these typical school hours, expanding mandatory trainings and ongoing support, more oversight for bus staff, mandating the training of in school best in coordinators, creating more incentives to actually address these staffing shortages.
3:15:26
And obviously, as we all know improving communication, especially regarding OPT.
3:15:32
The data that will be collected under intro 515, I believe, is integral to implementing these recommendations since the clearer a picture we have of an issue the more equipped we inevitably are to address it.
3:15:45
So we thank the council for your time and effort, and we do support the passage of this legislation, but we also ask that you consider our other recommendations as you continue your work on improving the yellow school best system in New York City.
3:15:58
Thank you.
