Often, students who are in a Special Education program ride busses that will pick them up, and drop them off, at their door. Parents in California are concerned about a school district’s decision to begin “clustering” Special Education students at bus stops. Is this really what is best for the students?
There are some very good reasons for the typical system that provides bussing to students who are in Special Education programs. Having a smaller bus, with less students on it, can make things less stressful for students who have an autism spectrum disorder, or who have sensory or social difficulties. The smaller busses often drop students off in front of their homes, (instead of at a bus stop). In many ways, this is the safest option.
Parents who have children that are in the Special Education program in the Mt. Diablo school district, in California, have concerns about a new bussing system the school district wants to implement. Instead of providing home-to-school service, directly from the student’s homes, the school district wants to begin “clustering”.
The proposed “clustering” system would assign a bus stop to the students who are in the Special Education programs. If I am understanding things correctly, it appears that the “clustering” bus stops would include only students from the Special Education program, and only those that lived within a certain distance of the bus stop. In short, the home-to-school direct service would end, and the students would be picked up and dropped off at a location that is not their home.
Parents feel that the school district has not provided sufficient data that shows why the current bussing program needs to be changed. They want to see the actual cost comparisons between the proposed “clustering” system, and the way that the bussing is currently being done, as generated by the Fiscal Crisis and Management Team, (or FCMAT).
At this time, it appears that the school district could put the “clustering” plan in place in January of 2013. The administration of Special Education, Carolyn Patton, has stated that no changes would be made without an IEP (or, Individualized Education Plan) meeting between the staff of the school district and the parents of the students who would be directly affected by the “clustering” plan.
I cannot find much more information about this situation. It seems to me that part of the reason for the change in bussing has to do with the amount of money that the school district is spending on bussing. It also seems that part of the reason for the change is to prevent students who are in the Special Education program to have to spend an excessive amount of time being transported to or from school by the school bus.
Image by Tomash Devenishek on Flickr