People’s PEP August 11, 2022
Parents and advocates will make statements about the quality of school bus staffing, training, safety, and communication during the Panel for Education Policy vote on changing the regulations for driver & attendant training.
The vote on an amendment to an older regulation (that locked in the companies’ responsibility to employ GPS and dry runs) is a moment for us to challenge the DOE-OPT to actually solve ALL the staffing shortages created by downgraded wage structures and a lack of respect for school busing as a public educational service.
The new glucagon training ordered by a federal judge is a victory for riders with Diabetes and their advocates, but reflects the sad scarcity of assigned and substitute bus paraprofessionals and bus nurses.
To learn more, please check out the live links below.
Background information we gathered and discussed before the August 11 PEP meeting:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1E5aTl3vuX4fSRLNNlb19RB6bmQRf-mfk3qrXzJUdxYk/edit?usp=sharing
PIST written testimony to the members of the PEP:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1b-c1rGB5iDyQO16szfBiTBb5j4s01o-59QDUw2uU2Nc/edit?usp=sharing
Video recording of the PEP meeting:
https://learndoe.org/pep/archive-pep-aug11-2022/ From about 2:17:15 to 3:07:00 are great comments by parents and school staff on the need to hire & retain bus staff (PIST organization statement ~ 2:42).
If your child is prescribed any of these, they have a right to be placed on buses with trained staff even if it is for a one time field trip. Please consult the school nurse or the 504 team. If you have done your paperwork and this right is still being violated, the leaders in the court case that led to the training are as follows:
1) Disability Rights Advocates https://dralegal.org/
New York Office
655 Third Avenue, Fourteenth Floor
New York, NY 10017-5621
(212) 644-8644 (Voice)
(212) 644-8636 (Fax)
For questions or information regarding DRA’s cases, email: info@dralegal.org
2) American Diabetes Association https://diabetes.org/get-involved/community/local-offices/greater-nycnj
New York (Greater NYC and New Jersey)
P.O. Box 7023
Merrifield, Virginia 22116-7023