Parent of autistic child on how bill requiring tracking on school buses could be improved

The below testimony on school busing was submitted to the City Council by an Inwood parent with an autistic daughter who prefers to remain anonymous for the purpose of preserving her child’s privacy.  she is commenting on Int 1099-2018, a bill to be discussed today at Council hearings requiring tracking devices on all NYC school buses.

Dear Members of the NYC Council,

I submit the following testimony to be included in the official record of the NYC City Council re Int 1099-2018:

Thank you for taking the time to read my testimony. My name is [removed].  I am a parent of a elementary school-aged child with an IEP in District 6 in the Inwood neighborhood of Upper Manhattan. I have intentionally left her name and diagnosis out of my testimony to protect her privacy. Please help guard her privacy by referring to me and my testimony by my middle name, Nicole.

Busing my child to school has been a challenge. Chancellor’s regulations allow one-way bus times of
90 minutes for in borough and 180 minutes for out-of-borough transportation. Given a 6 hour school day, this means that a child may spend 40% of his or her school day actually in transit on a bus. It is thus a vital part of a students learning experience.

The proposed ‘school bus tracking app’ could be very beneficial to many students and their parents if implemented conscientiously.

It is my personal experience that the $40 ($75) initial investment in Verizon’s LG Gizmo Pal 1 (now 2) plus $5 monthly charge have enabled my child to have the benefit of this proposed legislation. It uses both GPS and cell-phone tracking to allow me to check my child’s progress to and from school. This tool has kept my mind at ease those days when her in borough route has stretched into 100 minutes or longer — no crash, just late. It has flagged the days when the bus got her late to school, and she missed out on vital learning time. It has illustrated poorly planned, inefficient routes. It is a tool that should be available to all parents.

I hope this legislation will provide an opportunity to improve school transportation for all students.

I think that the current draft needs to improve in the following ways:

(1) GPS is too narrow of a definition for a bus tracking device. The technology for this type of tracking device can be challenging in a dense metropolitan area such as New York City. I suggest requiring the tracking device to have at least 2-fold technology: 1:GPS as well as 2:GSM/CDMA (cellular phone triangulation). Moreover, the legislation should be written in such a way as it ‘grows’ with the technological standards for tracking.

(2) It is not clear who the owner of the cellular phones referenced in Int1099-2018. The mandate should clarify that these are owned by NYC DoE, and the hardware used / software installed should be highly regulated.

(3) The protocol for use of cellular phones / radios by bus drivers should be clarified.  Is it permissible to use these while driving? Only while stopped? Are these intended for the bus matron instead?

(4) There is no explicit treatment for how the data gathered by these tracking devices will be protected from unintentional distribution (hacking) or regulated/prohibited for intentional distribution (3rd party data sharing by NYC DoE, OPT, busing companies). Will students’ privacy be protected?

(5) I suggest that the following be added to the top for context and to emphasize the importance of school busing to students getting a free and appropriate public education: “Transportation is a related service for special education students as defined by the Federal IDEA 2004 law — 34 CFR §300.34(c)(16)”

(6) There is no protocol for how the data will be used to improve student transportation: *Will too-long (out of IEP compliance) routes be flagged automatically?

*Will ‘lemon’ buses (those with chronic break-downs) be flagged automatically? 

*Will drivers be penalized for speeding?

*Will drivers be penalized for waiting an extra minute when a child has trouble transitioning onto the bus?

*Will the efficacy of the route be assessed and poorly designed routes flagged for improvement?

*Will adjustments be automated for predictable traffic conditions (i.e., garbage pickup times on narrow streets)?

*Will there be an automated process to give students ‘make up’ time when the bus is late getting the student to school?

*Will special education students continue to be segregated from non-special education students during transportation? (Will they be allowed to integrate with supports?) Or will there continue to be dual, segregated routes?

I do hope that you can incorporate some of these suggestions into the current draft. I also note that, if transportation is required to adhere to the IEP guidelines wrt limited time transportation that NYC DoE may be compelled to operate schools in more wide-spread locations. I think that this change would also benefit many students.

Thank you.

Support Aniya's law by Sam Pirozzolo

Dear Friends and Neighbors:

I would like to give you a brief update on the pending NYS bill to compel the Dept. of Education to restore yellow school bus service to 7^th and 8^th grade students (Bill #A2988A).  CEC member Mike Reilly and I were present at a meeting in the office of NYS Assemblyman Michael Cusick this week.  At that meeting, ALL of the NYS & NYC legislators from Staten Island (Assembly members, Senators and CityCouncil members) were present or represented.

First I am compelled to share a few thoughts of my own.  Since the day of Aniya’s death, I - like many of you - have thought about what I would do or how I would act if one of my children were suddenly taken from me.  If you have had these thoughts too then you realize that there is no way to imagine the loss of a child. I don’t know if I would become totally unhinged, I don’t know if I would be brave, I don’t know if I would be strong.  At the meeting, the legislators met Mrs. Elizabeth Favors, the mother of Aniya Williams.  As requested by CEC 31, Mrs. Favors gave permission for NY State Bill #A2988A to be named ANIYA’S LAW in honor of her deceased daughter.  

Elizabeth is a very strong, very brave and very powerful person.  It has given me strength to watch her agree to lend Aniya’s name to this bill in the hopes of regaining our longstanding school bus service.  She does this not just for our public school students but also for our private school students.  She does this not just for Staten Island students but also for every student in every district throughout the city who must traverse dangerous and hazardous conditions to travel to and from school.  We owe a debt to her that can never be repaid.

Next I must say that I am very impressed with Assemblyman Mike Cusick. There is no doubt in my mind that Assemblyman Cusick is sincere, knowledgeable and has the experience to handle this task.  Let me remind you that we face an uphill battle against very difficult obstacles to restore school bus entitlement.  I would also like to thank all of our other Staten Island legislators as they each champion in support for this school bus law.

Currently Aniya’s bill is in the Education Committee of the Assembly.  After the Education Committee the bill will be sent to the Ways & Means Committee to determine costs and funding.  Unfortunately, the earliest opportunity for the NYS Assembly to vote on this bill may be January 2012, UNLESS there is a large ground-swell of letters indicating support for this new law. 

Your help is needed again!  You may have already sent the attached letter to the NYS Assembly EDUCATION Committee members, but now we ask you to send it to the Assembly WAYS & MEANS Committee members as well.  The 2^nd and 3^rd pages of the attached letter contain the contact information for the members of these two important committees.  If you haven’t already sent it to the Education Committee members, please do that now, in addition to sending it to the Ways & Means Committee members.  Just complete your name, address and contact information on the bottom of page 1 of the attached letter, and then mail or e-mail your letter directly to each of the elected officials listed on pages 2 & 3.   

(NOTE: The e-mail addresses for all the Assembly  Ways and Means and Education Committee Members are also here, grouped for easier use.  Just highlight and paste their e-mails into the "TO" field of your e-mail program and send them the attached letter after you have filled out your name and contact information on the bottom and saved the changes.)  

If the legislators see an outpouring of support for passage of Aniya’s Law, it is possible that it might be brought up for a vote earlier than January – perhaps as early as this autumn. 

Thank you for your continued support.  It is appreciated, it is needed and your help can make the difference in our efforts to restore school bus service for Staten Island’s students under Aniya’s Law. 

Sincerely, Sam Pirozzolo, President, CEC 31