50 complaints I have filed over 50 complaints in regards to this busing issue my daughter's getting off the bus crying um she is she doesn't want to go to school this is the ongoing issue and
I have spoken to everyone that I can possibly speak to in regards to this issue um it is taking up way too much time of my day while working as a single mother um she suffers from severe anxiety then on top of it the bus is
breaking down every other week and there's no form of uh of other transportation that is being provided for my daughter um the list just goes on and on and I'm just at my wits end I have sent Samantha Gonzalez several
several emails spoke to her once and she just pushed me to the side I have spoken to lady named Mrs Charles from the opt Center where you filed the complaint who has advised me that she was um
escalating the ticket and sending it to hold on please let me see um Patrick centur who is the director I have filed over I can't tell you as many uh opt tickets that I have put in place um this
is absurd that the CH that these children that already face these Challen challenges have to go through what they're going through um and that there is no course of action that is put into place on a yearly basis this is the first time that I am experiencing this
um my daughter like I said this is the first time that I'm experiencing this this is happening all the time for each child and they are placed with they are placed with multiple schools of pickup which I do not understand and it's not fair to the child you're not setting the
president for the child to go to school or to come home from school and and to list of what they're going through throughout the day you know um there's this should be planned ahead of time this should be an ongoing issue with that someone is assigned to this or a
team is assigned to it of each burrow I am live it I am at this point I am at the point of getting ready to seek legal action that is how that is where I'm at at this point I will contact every news every newscaster this is where I'm at
because there is no one offering a level of assistance there is no one staying on top of it there is no one offering any type of resolution to the situation my daughter's getting picked up at 6:30 in the morning and then getting at school
at maybe what 8:30 n o'clock there's two other schools that's being picked up you know that she knows none of the students the bus was changed she had a great route and there's no level of explanation that has been put into on why her route was changed we had no problems initially going into the school
year now every other no mommy's on the phone now every other week I'm having a call from the bus company I mean from the bus driver telling me that the bus is is is oh the bus is broken down can somebody pick her up oh I there's nothing that we can do about it the bus
came to pick her up at 9:45 no one has contacted me from the busing company it's only this Friday that I have received two return calls from opt regards to this matter I am livid and I am sorry that I've taken up this much time in regards to it I also
have another complaint from another one of the mothers in our school it is this is this is ridiculous at this point um you are not taking up our time M um this I'm sorry and I and no do not please don't be sorry Miss
Crystal then then I'm I'm hearing from the opt supervisor when I called over 50 times in one day she tells me oh you can't flood the lines oh yeah I can and I promise you I will I am the mother that will do it I am the mother that will take it to the next step and
whatever I have to do moving forward it's going to happen and I promise you that because I am tired this is taking up way too much time my talent is on the Spectrum already she suffers from severe anxiet what else do you want me it it's too much of a process to rectify the
matter I'm I'm I'm through the roof at this point I understand and what I want to um asked and I know you said that you have over 50 complaints and this may be additional work and I'm sorry if it comes out as such but could you please
uh in the email I put the council's email d75 counil schools.nyc.gov Sarah I'm going to copy you on the items that we get to the council that's that are being uplifted tonight Crystal if you could give me all of your complaints what I want to do for
everyone tonight is escalate this from the council's end to opt because we have a different level of people that we talk to in addition to the district having a different level of people um so Crystal if you can just copy and paste all of those um um violations and you don't
have to say what they're for just give me every single violation number absolutely I have them all listed I have every op ticket op ticket that I have placed I have sent several emails and you know the the person that was put into charge for uh for Manhattan her
name is Samantha Gonzalez she is not help ful at all and very dismissive not helpful one bit you know she just dismissed the call and then told me that I wasn't supposed to speak with her after my school coordinator and the head of the school has contacted her on
several different occasions right I don't think it should take this much for us as parents like we're the children are already going they're already going through what they need they're going through why is why do we have to go through all of this my child like that's
way too long for a child to be on the bus who want my child my child goes to school with Crystal's child right my name is Mona Yates my stud I have a student who's in Crystal's daughter's
class we our issue is not as major as Crystal's issue however what seems to be the issue at hand is communication from OTP to the school to the parent
what states we're at learning spring I'm on the PA of our I'm a PA rep for our class at learning spring and Crystal's issue is not the only issue that I've heard with busing from
d75 from issues that would go to an strike eight years ago while I was working at um UFT like this is an ongoing issue where communication is just either not getting addressed and there's no changes my issue I had put in
the chat I cannot get my telephone number changed and as a result I cannot be contacted because the same telephone number that I had eight years ago is still on file and that phone number was only operating for maybe eight weeks the
baby was two when I had the phone number that is on file the child is 10 so as a result on the first day of school or when there's replacement drivers or matrons I cannot be contacted because an old number is on file the school says that the change is to come from the
parent the OTP says that the change is to come from the school I've sent sever I have eight years of emails trying to make this change for the telephone number that still exists I've only had one telephone number in eight years and
nobody can get it right Sarah so coupled with Crystal's issue where the children are on both buses my child has been on broken bus my child has had her roote changed without any recourse I've had to take the child to school on the train
I'm a substitute teacher for doe so I know the issues that exist with busting and I'm just like how the kids already have autism right so for us to even be on this call takes away from time for us
having to needing to be I need to finish homework yes ma'am like I said for my minor issue So for anybody else on the call the other lady who was ahead of us with the child my kid gets picked up at 6:45 school doesn't start until 8:30 and these children these children
are just on the bus like it's a straight shot of 20 minutes like I've even plotted um bus rooting for how for where even Crystal's child lives the my child how we can penis there's another student who goes to learning spring who lives
one black back away he's also on the route but for us to have the children just sitting on the bus in traffic anes sensory ISS it's too much it's too much so let me ask let me thank you Miss Miss Yates for for telling us that and for lifting that up Sarah I want to give you
the floor in one second for Douglas and Carolyn and for Crystal um is the limited time on your students IEP that's another thing this is this is this is this is seems to be a whole um a
whole to-do thing right so the limited time travel form was granted right was was filled out yes I in I have it the doctor filled the whole form out but getting into the IEP rep to actually make the to make the um the amendment to
the IEP it's a whole process within that everything seems to be an ordeal when it comes down to these children that already have special needs I can I can help you with that one I can help we can help you move that one along
real easily okay okay and ladies I'm not I'm just EXT we're extremely frustrated us that's what we're here our children you know my CH our children are are are coming home and upset in regards to this her father is taking her he has
to work it's it's it's a whole or deal that is happening grandma has to leave it's a everything is happening that is affecting what that what we're trying to do in the home and while we're sending them to school that is a problem and it
has to be addressed because I like I and I don't mean to to throw this out lightly because I don't mean it lightly I'm the mother that is going to go to Every extent so if it takes all of those calls if it takes following up with the newscast I'm going to do that right I'm
going to my child has it on his IEP it's on yeah it's also on yeah it's on it's on his and he's still getting picked up at 6:00 in the morning and he lives a few blocks with us okay block away from the school and
he don't start till 8 o'clock okay s every parent has the same thing but it's like they get they get to the school like an hour after and it's like they added more kids from another different school okay and so they then they end up
going to school like around 8:30 to 9 from 6 o' sometimes ma this is this is Dad for Douglas and uh for Douglas um I find I don't know if this has anything to do with it if you have good sound somewhere else just because I'm about to do something that I don't want to oh
Sarah give me one second Sarah do you need no no no do you want did you need the floor now Sarah oh well I was try I was actually asking somebody in my house to to move so that I could talk when you're ready I mean I have a couple of things that might be useful to everybody
but I don't want give me one second let's let Mr Douglas finish his thought and then I want you to come back in for the items that parents have um said and then we'll go back to the hands that are raised is that okay yeah yeah great okay I don't know if this is an issue or not but I've noticed that uh my son he's
being picked the he's being picked up by Vinnie's bus service but they were contracted by Charter so I don't know if that's where the confusion lies because I can't my wife has made multiple I don't even know how how many time I just know it's been more than a week that
she's been on the the the phone calls with these opt numbers for complaints but I don't know if that has anything to do with where information is not flowing to where it needs to go because it's actually Insanity that you got a contract and this is something that the
city they're subcontracting out I don't know if that has anything to do with it um bus drivers I got all the excuses we didn't have any of these excuses last year uh two weeks ago I had to go and pick him up because the bus broke down the bus broke down I had to go at the
mechanic shop and pick up my son because he's the last one on the bus at the mechanic shop with the bus drivers because the B bus broke down Mr Douglas and Miss Carolyn would you guys be able to send over an email to I'm going to
put it back in d75 council at schools you put that in the chat or yes sir nc.gov and I want everyone on here I want we need all of your VI ation numbers we can escalate on your behalf we can Advocate on your behalf it helps
us tremendously to have your student ID numbers in addition to all of the violations you've ever filed so that we can TR of bump that up now with that being said Sarah I do want to go ahead and give you the floor for you to give some of the resources for some of the
items that we've heard um be uplifted so far s can you repeat that you said you need to put in the chat their I the student ID numbers it be oh no no no not in the chat email priv email yes ma'am privately we don't want
to have any Spanish please ah um Let me give us a second I don't know if we have interpretation on but we do have council member um yes what is it you need them to put in the chat they're asking if anybody else needs it to we got more
people and we need to know if anybody else needs the translation translation or any version of translation okay perfect um there's a you're putting the email in the um chat right it's the email that's in the chat already okay
perfect thank you for Mandarin I may have to um do some um I'll figure something out to put some information in there if you type um I'm GNA give me one moment um we have a couple of hands raised first so Mr
farita we're gonna go Ariel warell she's been waiting I'm gonna work on the Mandarin in the chat Miss warell did you want to um ask your question um yes hi um well my issue is a little different from everyone else's my son he's not
even on a bus he doesn't have a route he doesn't have anything they saying he has a number but he doesn't even have a driver they don't have any drivers now and I'm I'm tired of calling opt I'm tired of ticket numbers like Grandma had to drop him in the morning she's very
old and I have to leave work two hours earlier to go pick him up now to the point now I'm losing hours from my job I'm getting cl to my job because I have to leave to pick him up to drop him off now Grandma's not able to do it anymore now she's old so now I got to get to
work late now and now I have to leave work leave were early now to the point now where I don't want to get in trouble now we have to pay a van service now to pick up my kid and drop him off and I keep call opt they keep saying they're gonna
escalate it they're gonna do this they they gonna I spoke to many supervisors they escalated I have so many ticket numbers oh he he still doesn't have a route oh did you hear ride share and I'm like you're not giving me any kind of updates when is he going to get on the
bus and I was inconvenience with my job now he's not on the bus yet it's now November and he's still not on the bus Miss Morel are you saying that he doesn't have a route at all or the route he doesn't have a um they say he he has
a route number but he doesn't have a driver okay and no one has offered you access to R oh yes they they offer R sh and but they say oh we still got to wait for the district and everybody to give you the right shared confirmation code I'm still
waiting on the code listen let me tell you this you won't I if you guys I'm I'm the kind of person I will put these emails out tonight first thing in the morning I know directly the person who is supposed to give you the codes with the district this is why we are here this is why Sarah is here thing is with
the right share he needs an adult to accompany him going and coming now who's going to be that adult I have to go to work grandma can't do it anymore she's too old so the right doesn't benefit me either that doesn't help me either okay
I can't I'm losing hours in the morning from work and I'm getting I'm leaving work earlier to pick him up so now to the point now I have to pick out of pocket have somebody pick him up and drop him off to school so here ask a quick question Miss Morel um and it may
not trying to be insensitive what time do you have to be at work to be at work at 8:00 and his school starts at 8:20 oh y yes as well so I have to be at work at 8
o' imag me to leave my class two hours earlier to go pick my kid up or get to work late and can't have my class I have to have coverage to go pick my to drop my kid off at school he 20 minutes after I
start we both are in school I have to go to work he has to go to school and on top of that I got to drop my oldest to school so now I gotta drop him to school first and then wait 20 more minutes to go drop him off and then I gotta tell my boss oh I'm late but
I does a he doesn't have a bus driver Miss Morel can you um could you email us I have what I'm taking notes as everyone is talking could you email the council and give us your students number the school no problem no problem and all of
the violation number so we can thank you than you thank you um you guys don't feel bad about venting um with what's going on you shouldn't be in a place where you're about to lose your jobs and you're losing money and your children are not in school it's it's not
okay same exact problem I'm having right it's right so miss um Monifa Yates you have your hand hello Miss Yates I have Monifa Yates with her hands up or Lesean Denny are either of you ready to
speak yes I am hi go ahead I'm having an issue with my son was as well I um I have a communication with the bus driver but he gets on the app in the morning but don't get on the app in
the there are times when this bus driver I would not kill you or not he will show up at 7 something in the morning why are you com and picking up my child at 7 something on my way I'm on my way I One Stop away but when I look on the app
he's still in the Bronx and this what makes my son late for school as well too because it's plenty of sense when I called to school and I told him listen my son Jaden is being late today and they were like yes we know we can see that he's being late it's not your fault it's the bus
driver's fault this this is become annoying because I have two other kids that had to I had to walk up the block and get them on the bus as well before 7 o' I can't stand outside at 6 something in the morning waiting for him to come and he don't show till like 7
o'clock in the morning it's it's not fair and then when I say something yes when I say something he looks at me with the weird face or the M give me that funny face miss you can't you can't give me no funny face cuz I have two other kids I got to get on the bus at 7:00 he
comes when he want to come there's been plenty of times that he comes and he like I'm downstairs I'll go downstairs there you no bus downstairs then half of the time the app he don't even be on the app okay so are there any well at least
yours uses the app I said most this is mon a speaking I couldn't get my phone to unmute but oh no I we have a couple more people in line too so we want to make sure that we can kind of get no but when you had called me speak couldn't so what I had said was everything that I
needed to say I had said earlier also to support Crystal's claim but I also put my complaint in the chat and I will send it again but my question was what if these tickets have just been closed and unaddressed because that's the is like I said my issue is the same each and every
year eight years straight but the tickets are closed once I put in the ticket or the complaint and then it's closed but it's still not resolved so this is my issue and then you could just move on to the next one like I said I put it in the chat I'll reiterate it to
the email that was provided yes ma'am anything else that might come from learning spring I'll make sure to pick that up and um coordinator yes ma'am to our busing coordinator and then she can you know be the Lea on for well she is the Lea on
for learning spring but I just wanted to make sure that we were represented on this call yes ma'am um and what I want for the parents here if you when we have these meetings or even if we don't you guys have the council's number if you can say at our school this is the level of issues that we are having these are
the parents that are having issues if we see that there's extreme issues at individual schools that can help us escalate that up to the district up to opt and also up to the panel for educational policy there's a lot of places where we can make sure your voices are heard and we can turn a lot
of this stuff around more quickly I will apologize it should not be that we should be able to call someone and automatically make things move a little bit faster for you it should move fast for every single parent so that is UN I don't yeah and I don't personally like that but I'm you know like one of
the mothers just said I will war with you we will war with you we will Advocate I appreciate that I appreciate that I know that you know venting has a tone and none of us mean it but like I said deal with no it's busy it's busy
it's busy work all the time and a lot of us are single parents so with it being busy we just need our complaints to be heard resolved and we're all solution based so thank you for taking the time to even do this and then you can go I don't have anything else to say I'm gonna just listen thank you for for
listening me talk Miss Yates listen y'all this is a place for you so please do not feel that we are taking any level of offense about you being upset you have a right to be living you have every right to be everybody does yeah your life is being adjusted based on a bus um
and that's yeah yeah so we are it up yes ma'am so we gonna in the corner um Nina Cunningham and yes I'm here can you hear me yes ma'am okay so I
did actually reach out to you guys I sent an email last week um my son was just taking off his bus his normal route which I did have some issues with that route but they actually came I mean they came a little late but they came this new route they put him on no bus driver
no matron it's not running half the time I've had to take him to school I have to be to work at 8:00 I live in canari his school is in Bedford serson I don't drive so I'm late to work you know what I'm saying and then have you emailed the council not to interrupt you the council
yes I believe I did as well what is your I'm I'm looking in the email now I want to make sure I don't I don't recall seeing it what's your uh do you Emil is uh n n991 gmail.com nope I don't have any anything
let me see I sent that to D7 to you guys I sent it to um d75 info and I sent it to special education at schools oh yeah Noe that's not us so d75 Council
I'm gonna put it back in uh chat again d75 Council um and unfortunately y'all I'm sorry when y'all reach out to some places that nobody's reaching back out that's that's not okay it's not appropriate and that's not what you're gonna get when you reach out to this Council um You can call me at six
o'clock in the morning 7 o'clock in the morning if the bus don't come you may just need someone to vent to before work I got you I understand um what's going on the council understands what's going on we have U council member Jessica Rivera who's on the line she is the co-chair of the committee she was also
uh doing translations for us so she's been um diligently helping and in a space to be helpful as well so what I want you guys to do d75 counsel at schools.nyc.gov and SAR you also have your email for pissed
right that one is forgive me I don't know by memory I'm scrolling up Sarah pissed p i s t n y c at gmail so p i s t i see a message in the chat from
ernesta Thomas um she's having difficulty raising her hand but I think she may want to speak oh yes so we're gonna we have um two people ahead of her but we're gonna put Miss Nina is speaking now we have Miss Melissa Ramirez Miss Selena hecthor and then we
can go to miss ernesta Thomas if that is okay for those who are waiting okay um so yeah they just took him off his normal route and put him on this horrible route that wasn't running and then I call every morning and they're like oh we don't have a driver
oh the driver called out sick so I putting in my complaints and they closing the tickets like um uh the other lady said and they're not resolving anything and I did speak to um my transportation coordinator at the school she's been you know also putting in uh
violations because there times yesterday they picked him up at 8 o' you know what I'm saying when he finally gets a bus it's it's still horrible you know what I'm saying like oh he can finally get on but now I'm sitting in the house waiting for an hour for them to pick him up you know what
I'm saying today they left him at the school school ends at 2 o' I get a text message from the school saying Noah is still sitting here and I'm like what do you mean he's still sitting there he's supposed to be on the bus the bus hasn't arrived yet the bus didn't get to the school till I think uh
3:45 so it's like you know and now God knows how many drop offs they have before he can actually reach home so I I'm I'm just I'm annoyed for one especially me having to come to work every day late and then I'm supposed to
be starting a new job and I cannot you know I can't I can't I cannot I can't do this something has to be something has to give you know something really has to give and I hope they could uh figure it out for his sake because the other issue
was him being on the bus too long you know what I'm saying and then they drop him off oh he was acting out well he's been on the bus for almost two hours what do you expect you know like it's not okay and they I also feel like they were overcrowding his last bus route
every every day it's a new pickup time oh they added somebody else oh they added two more kids and it's like the beginning of the school you say you had 23 kids you almost up to 35 kids on this bus and it's one matron so it's just it's it's a lot it's
a lot it's stressing me out honestly but I know you guys can only do but so much but and then they offered the ride share thing too like she said but even if that comes through somebody still has to ride with him to school and I have to be the work so it's just like how is that helping
me but I do thank you for taking the air to listen um also I'm going to forward my email to you right now that I sent so christe I am back my phone uh kicked me out apologies
guys okay um Miss Cunningham I'm sorry I didn't hear the end of what you were saying oh I was just basically saying like you know the ride share they also offered that but of course that takes time but then of course someone needs to ride with him to school and it's just
him and I you know I don't have any extra help like that on my side of what time do you have to go to work as well cuz I are you guys I have to be to work at 8 o' where do you live I live in canari oh it I live in Richwood by
senica and I do that I do the the right thing I don't know like you know we're parents and we're here to help each other so if that's something you know I don't know if that's also permitted you know that another parent can go ahead
and and be there with the kids okay I think it's only a person that's over 18 so if there's a way that parent the parents and parents are willing to ride and you know go you know because technically you get picked up you can drop the children off and you can be dropped back off so if parents
are willing to help parents maybe that's something that Sarah what do you think about uplifting that or starting something in a sense of hey which parents might be willing to you know help a parent out that's in need that has to get to work because we don't want our parents losing their jobs and losing
finances and we want our students in school I feel bad about that yeah and I mean my son is already doing that so I don't mind like picking up another kid and you know take him to to his school if that's necessary wow because I know
that's what we here for that's why we are spicing out our problems and finding Solutions so I live in 18 81 uh stanh Hope Street uh near Ridgewood um missing like I'm like two two blocks from from
wof so if any parent is looking for somebody to drop off their kids in the ps81 because that's where usually I go okay like I'd be more than happy to help that's so nice I wish I was on that
side of really no but I'm like this is this is where we where where some different things can happen but also will push us in a space of you guys aren't serving us to the degree that we had to start serving ourselves that says a lot and it's and it's an unfortunate space and I want you guys to know we are going to have our legislative breakfast
coming up in a little while and part and this is going to be a major part of what we're going to be uplifting to our Senators and our city council members and anyone that's involved with legislation to try to move and change something because it is ridiculous and it has been consistent um for many many
many years so we'll make sure to uplift this and Elevate the things that you guys were saying as long as you give us the information we can try our best um with pist and with our councel to get this close and get you guys full circle um Miss
Ramirez yes I'm here you have the floor you can speak yes uh my issue is begun sorry my issue has begun since the beginning of school my son coming from one school riding two hours and a half
um on a bus with kids from other schools um different grade levels riding with high school kids he's in elementary he goes to learning spring um the complaints I have a Christmas
list of complaints yet some get closed some are open uh we recently moved he's still on the same they added him for a morning route the they basically come when they feel like it as far as um I one time the bus drive 10 minutes before
saying we're gonna be there 10 minutes but yesterday told me a bus pickup of seven 710 and you calling me at 6:20 to say come downstairs um everything is constantly changing changing Chang changing on a
daily basis you know um my son is coming home agitated it's just ridiculous they say keep calling opt no one is doing anything this morning I I'm I'm very courteous to the M I know the bus drivers and the matrons sometimes have
no control of the right so I try to give them the benefit of the doubt I ask them please call me so I could come down so I'm not standing in front of my building for 25 minutes waiting for a bus you're late 2 minutes they leave you know but if they're late you have to stand
outside matrion told me today oh be outside at be outside in 10 minutes yesterday I was waiting 25 minutes like this is just becoming out of control why are the children that go to nonp public private schools on the bus with the public school kids why are they mixing
elementary school and high school kids you know it is at this point is now becoming unsafe then you act then the um people ask oh why are these kids whing out on the bus and they're on Special Needs on the bus for a very long time with different with of a spectrum of age
ranges which is not appropriate like this iszy yeah they tell me to come down they say come down you could come down now and I'm literally waiting there a half an hour and I have other children that I need to pick up from school and it causes me to be late for them um I'm
standing there they're not they're not showing up um they're coming late in the morning yeah they're coming late in the morning out I'm thinking I miss the bus and the same thing if you're not there they leave if you're not there they leave and they have you there half hour
you ask for you ask for Courtesy you ask for Courtesy oh can you just let me know five minutes when you're on your way five minutes is like it's like you pulling teeth with them yeah you don't have to do it but it makes everybody's life easier right it makes me not be
nasty to you because you left my son you know and it just makes the day go better I'm GNA be late every single day since my son started this morning route because there's no way they're coming they a bus time for 7:15 now it's become
7:40 7:45 he's getting to school after 9:00 every single day and and I haven't happened to my son but I hear I hear children screaming and banging on the bus while I'm getting my son off the
bus screaming it went from it went from the same route being a two and a half hour ride in the afternoon to now getting it together in the afternoon to now the morning route being late every single day and you said your bus Miss
rire your bus gets to the school after 900 P.M every day yeah after 9:00 am okay because they still because they still have to continue the route so their excuse is oh they don't know why they the bus driveing the matron is like I don't know why they gave us this route
we're coming from Queens wow you know that they have um other bases in in the Bronx but you guys are coming from Queens still picking up kids so at 7:45 there's no way you're gon to get back to Midtown which my son goes to learning spring there's no way
you're going to get back to Midtown still having to pick up kids by 8:30 and they're picking up three schools my son gets out of school at 2:30 on Wednesdays wait a minute so we have three parents from learning Springs with issues on the SCH
y I know I know there was a bunch of um a bunch of issues when I spoke with with the yes with the coordinator parents it's parents it's Crystal the lady who's speaking and Mona so this is what was
saying and Elijah wow see that's a fourth one and they're all in the same class can you imagine the classroom behavior and that's all I'm gonna say about that okay thank thank you thank you thank you thank you I who was was it so
miss Christie um yes Sarah you may have yes let just speak go ahead I really really think I might have something useful in between it's going to be a a bare amount of information but um very much endorse the idea of the people who
are from the same school getting together because we have seen that be effective there is always strength in numbers and you know if if the person at the school isn't helping but all of you
press them they will have to help harder too and I've seen parents look and talk to the person who coordinates busing and come up with their own better idea for what the route should be and the sequence and all of that and opt even
though it's their job and you shouldn't have to do it they're like oh wow you handed this to us so we will do that um you know sometimes that's the only way to fix it I think the people stepping up
to offer to accompany other people's children is nice I just wonder if they allow two kids on the same in the same car with you because one thing we notice was that there are students as you know
who need a bus par but the ride share does not allow the bus par to be the one in the car although you might be able really you might be able to fake it but they're not going to get paid because they have to be on the bus logging in
to get you know so we have a lot of problems and I'm I've been doing this 14 years the things that people are saying unfortunately a lot of them are conscious policy Decisions by the people
who you know LED uh this Office of Pupil Transportation to cut Corners to throw all these ages together and we've been fighting what we call a school bus Bill of Rights because it needs to be a
collective of people who understand and live through these policies who should be deciding and vetoing policies um so that's something that you know big
picture starting in let's get together I would love to use that um as part of what we're requesting with our legislative breakfast okay we will talk offline but also um I wanted to say that if anybody here I put this in the chat
with a flyer with English and Spanish um and there's a workshop this Saturday up at Co-op City um it's actually the teachers union office of of the Bronx I think um uh limited space so please call
but that's a chance to go a little deeper if you've never written the email to PT yourself we can you know do some practicing with that kind of a thing unfortunately everyone's correct and I said this to the head of the city
council education committee she asked us in a hearing how long does it take to resolve the issue and I said just like you guys said as soon as they give you the ticket number they Market resolved they did their part you know so it's
ridiculous but when someone like the council or ourselves or the Citywide Council on special education or the public Advocate who is actually very interested in this the office of um
Jamani Williams or you know any of The Advocates that you may have heard of um when those people are CC on the correspondence to opt and we're writing to the those top people and making their
day annoying that's sometimes when we get um some action however I would ask one other thing in addition to putting your um complaint numbers the incident number
as they call it and putting the child's osis so they get directly to the point of you know your students um specific issue please put down the company because what people are describing it
sounds to me um we know that some well they all have a driver shortage all right and um finally the city admits it and you know the opt admits it but that
doesn't mean they have an excuse they should be hiring so a couple of things that are happening when they don't have enough driver and you're seeing these examples where somebody has a different driver every day or no driver or I think the one that
had the am came out bad when the PM started being good they probably have somebody doing two routes and um they you know they're doing yours
first and on one part of the day but they're doing your second in another part of the day that's right now it's the same people it's it's the same people just it's it's a like I said it's just a headache and a half they changed
the drivers because someone picked it up but it it's just it it's never getting better it's sometimes it feels like oh keep calling the opt to get the complaint numbers but like like you said nobody's really knows what's going on the people that are taking the cause are
like oh yeah they closed the ticket they don't have the power that's why I'm you did right by calling them because that is always the first step but in order to get it to the next level and this is a really stupid system cuz you know they got $9 million to get that
phone system and all of their it stuff and the online um tickets which you can also do you know if it's not actually solving any problems and if they also don't have any decent um routing software and they're wasting more more
money and More Time On Doing Things by hand it doesn't really you know resolve things but but what I'm asking you to do is to name the company on the thing so that they can you know not say they didn't know the patterns of which ones
they need to really either kick them to the curb buy them out give those buses to nice bus Which is the nonprofit that the city pays money into or you know um just like stop torturing us with with
those the ones that are clearly they must not be treating their workers right these are a lot of the non-union companies you know they're not holding on to people and they're not training people adequately either and you and it
shows so um you know name them and shame them and um that's part of the ammunition that we have I would like invite people also uh if you know somebody who needs to talk about this
and the evening is bad um we're we do have two meetings a month one is evening and one is a Tuesday like lunchtime so it's actually next Tuesday the 12th you know at 12:30 on Zoom um and we can take
some other you know oneon-one questions that are left over if if you like um let's see uh the thing about the hiring there's an effort on some of the
councils and maybe d75 Council can take it up as well um but we have somebody working on the wording to say Hey listen there's vocational in in these schools there's a pipeline into certain
industries why don't we have a pipeline into student trans Transportation because you know some of the young people including students with disabilities can you know um get training and become part of the solution
if they're not driving they could be an attendant if they um you know we need people to do what you call Travel training we need decent people with a heart for people with disabilities answering those phones and not being the
you know oh it's your fall de busted income you know we need for for um jobs to be created and the jobs already exist but um until there's enough people doing
all of these different jobs and doing them right we're going to continue to have this problem so that's why we always you know right and um bring in the issues also of of the workers cuz if
they're getting beaten down you can imagine what's happening to our kids right you don't have to imagine you just all described it so I'm going to put one last time in the chat um a link that has
uh all the events including tonight different events that are happening this month that have to do with these issues and how we're going to coales around it I just want to ask for the people who have trouble getting to in touch with
the um with the bus company we were able to like sort of crowdsource on our um Facebook from some people who work for those companies some corrected numbers and from parents some like this is the best time a day to call um for the
people who don't have your who your child is missing school protect yourself they need to put it down as absence code 20 that's when it's because of Transportation because if your child missed 20 days and it's not excused some
way in their system now they're coming after you to say you're doing the education on the clect no opt is doing it all right um but you but you need that you know and the other thing I heard some people who work for a school
I don't know if it's public school if you do work for the city school system there is and I don't know Fatima has it at her fingertips she knows this stuff about uh putting in for some um not to
get docked and penalized for money if you're late because of a transportation delay that your child has a disability and you had no way around it uh the other thing is that if it is a public school or a school that has the the UF
Union those teachers can do a special a compliance complaint and if there's a pattern where your kid is coming like somebody said at 9 10:00 every day and and one of the moms raised that you know if the whole class is straggling in and
is all frazzled from writing these long long routes that becomes a classroom issue that affects the curriculum and it affects everything else that that the working conditions basically of Educators so they have their Council
just like we have our Council you know and that can really also press um The Bard of Ed to put put a spotlight on that school the last thing I'll say for now this is a unique situation um but the there's the school
for the for the death well no it's the ASL School ASL in English they call it now there are kids who don't even have I but because the parent needs them to learn American Sign Language they have
to go to that school op messed around and dropped like six 19 20 some people of those students from uh busing and they just got it back like
yesterday but there's you know it was because there was somebody dug it up there was a directive from the chancellor that that said you know you can do this so again people working together um strengthen numbers at your
school in your District which is d75 and always always get yourself ready to do these emails and to have it if it comes from the council they will read it sometimes quicker than they'll read it from Just you but Christie we know that
we copy the parent so that the parent also sees how that conversation plays out and in my case if op writes back and says okay we going to fix it effective da da the day after Da Da Da I'm I'm
writing to you saying okay but was it all right is it really really fixed yet um but yeah it's bad the last meeting I I want to mention on the 15th we do have another night meeting and I'm
hoping that we will have uh one of those surveys you can fill out right then in zoom on those economic issues of how you're missing work how many hours are you missing how many days how many days of school is your child missing um
you know this is yeah it's definitely affecting really the whole city if they don't want to admit it okay hello I'm GNA stop I'm sorry I'm I'm as passionate as everybody else but y'all have live problem so let me mute no you're doing
fine SAR um yes please go ahead whoever's hands Ren ah yes um I'm apparent uh uh my name is jirra yes uh also addressing with the busing that you know that they take long for them to pick them up and drop them off and
that's another issue the air conditioner they need to put air conditioner for these kids with autism on the Spectrum and they have high anxiety so that way the air conditioner could at least cool
them down cuz having those you know you know a whole bunch of layers on and then sometimes the weather it fluctuates and it's like they get overwhelmed you know with taking them picking them up and then dropping them off an hour or two hours later and you know and also
getting um and communicating with the bus driver and the maton they saying oh call the bus company the bus company they put you straight to voicemail they don't even pick up the phones and also I had the Bus Matron she
caught an attitude with me cuz I was there early and I didn't complain about her but yet she two minutes late and she complained about me and she was yelling and screaming at me but I did put a note on her got nasty and
rude yeah I want to piggy back off because they do the same thing with the laes they they put take him on and off the bus and they they're sitting there all the all these hours on the on the bus with them and they're leaving their shoelaces on tie knowing that these children are incapable of trying their
Sho so much so much yes yes that's another how do you know who's in line to speak or give me one moment if we have our hands raised Miss uh miss Amir Kate is next the letter t y is next um Crystal haret and then Fatima Prolo uh
that's the order that we have so far hi good evening everyone um I just had two questions I wanted to know do they clean the bus daily and also do they um will they be implementing cameras on these buses to see what's happening with these children when we're
not there Sarah do you want to jump in I know a little bit about that the cameras were supposed to be rolling out but everyone all the buses don't have those yet and I can't really speak fully to the cameras are you able to speak more fully in that space um
Sarah she might be I'm G to ask her to unmute Sarah might be able to give us a little bit more information thank you okay yeah no the only camera they're talking about right now is on the outside of the bus to catch the cars that are speeding by and um I will tell
you that in some other places people parents have um have put their foot down against cameras in the bus because it's more surveillance and it's more school to prison pipeline when kids are being kids and you
know doing things with their hands which is not really meant as a crime it's just what you know so I I'm not even going to go down that that rabbit hole but as far as cleaning the buses they are supposed
to sweep out the bus they sto letting them keep the broom on the bus so now it's harder for them to do it they could only do it when they go back to the base and get the broom out of their own personal car or some Locker or something
at the so you know they do however get a fine from the company to the driver 200 or 100 or whatever if there's a piece of paper on the floor so that's sry sometimes you will get a driver who's very uptight about letting your child take out their homework or have anything
to eat or you know and people I just put in the chat the thing about the shoelace and you know wiping the nose it really depends like I said on if the people who are driving your bus have like
experience and and knowledge and they feel protected by their Union that they can you know bend the the crazy strictness where um some people have
gotten you know suspended because they tried to break up a fight you you people are scared to touch your children so it doesn't you know it doesn't make a good setup for anybody if we're not all
treating each other like human beings who can be a full human being and you see a child you want to help the child and not be penalized for it um the thing about the two minutes is also something that they don't have a control over because the route has to be followed as
written so that's why our job is to press opt to make it like nine or fewer stops on every bus and that way it would be shorter and they could put in some wiggle room for our kids when they want
to have a meltdown or not want to but you know what I mean when they need a little extra time and um um yeah it it's very important wherever possible not to have it become US versus the workers
because in the end that you know the same system that's beating us down is beating them down however if you got somebody who's like really off the chain well who's who's really sorry I have to speak normal language for the trans you
speak how you want we here we here for if you if you have somebody if they are somebody who we can reach we can reach sometimes like the shop St it and they will have a conversation and do some peer
intervention to get um to get those personality conflicts smoothed over a little bit you know when the parent and the and the driver are both upset and it starts to be you know
unpleasant um but there's nothing like that built in place from opt from opt it's just like they're going to string us along with some complaint they're going to do some long investigation they might spend your driver for three months
while they investigate and then that's another you know that's another 18 kids who don't have a ride so we're not in a good position of strength as long as there's a driver shortage and there's like non-union companies and things like
that happening that's my view okay I'm um working on a parent um they complained to opt numerous times and the response they got was that the route was under review and the supplier was notified saying that the child's driving time limit of 60 to 75 minutes
was reasonable Sarah isn't that time limit only reasonable if you're going in between Burrows or is it higher than that it's if they don't have limited time travel it's a lot higher um somebody is asking um to speak
though who has I don't know there's a there's a I'm sorry I'm multitasking but I'll put something in the chat with the picture of the the time for INB and out of burrow and you can explain it when you see it okay thank you uh Ty y Ty you have floor
yes um hi um I'm speaking just to I don't know I don't know how much can be done or changed right now about it but it's just um just to give you guys a a picture at least of understanding of my experience with my daughter autistic
six-year old um for me the long rides has caused her to you know regress in a lot of the work that I've done personally and now she just started school last year so this is only the second year of school so most of
everything that she's done from potty training from everything has been regressed because now she has to put on a a pullup or a diaper because the ride on the bus is so long um coming back from school or having you know the her
transitional stemming attacks which might you know um last up to an hour if she you know gets to the point where she's over stimulated which means her just transitioning from enjoying she likes to ride the bus but that's not
good for her because when it's time to get off that might be an issue where she won't stop you know stemming for an hour so now she's late to school she's regressing she's I have to make sure she uses the bathroom before she gets on the
bus so she doesn't have a accident um and at the same time I'm fighting and rushing to get down stairs and I got to make sure she uses the bathroom like right before she leaves because I don't want her to regress I don't want to put her on diapers and stuff she's she she
can go to the bathroom on her own but the fact that she now has to put it on you know is it's not something that's helping us and like you said um when she gets to class she's Disturbed she's she's over stimulated
it's that's a distraction for other students and that's that's not helping her at all everything is is really a domino effect so I understand that it's not going to probably be fixed but I just want to let you guys know that is uh uh just one of my hard like hard
concerning things that everything that I've worked hard for her and I want her to continue to grow and she's progressing she has honestly that's really like a I don't know how to explain it some some parents it's a it's a it's a a spectrum but uh use going
being potty train and being able to do that's something I had to ins stealing her being able to communicate with me yes and no or some things that I wanted to make sure she had now she has over stimulate when she gets home she's tired she wants to sleep all day she's up all
night she go to school I got to wake her up you understand uh 6: in the morning got to get up probably like 5 I have newborn babies I have another twin newborn babies and her younger sister so you could imagine I don't have time to
stand outside for bus to be late uh 20 minutes late when I have babies imagine me 6 in the morning standing outside waiting for a bus for uh 20 to 30 minutes with eight Monon olds now you know also it's so early in the morning
he doesn't even want to eat breakfast because he just woke up and he doesn't like the breakfast in school so it's so much imagine there late I go downstairs just the transition of having to come back upstairs when she knows she she's she got to get on the bus that's she's ready to get on the bus she's she's
screaming the whole time just to just having to be like they're not here yet I'm sorry we got to go back upstairs that it's an horrible day every day I'm sorry it's very very very taxing on my child my family and my life uh I'm just
I just able we wna for everyone that's speaking we're keeping everything from the chat so if you don't think we've gotten to you were trying to We Are going to go through the chat um whether it's in English whether it's Mandarin whether it's in Spanish we're going to make sure
to contact you uh give you the information and make sure that we have language Equity um as we work through um trying to escalate the different um issues that you guys have so I just wanted to put that up to the Forefront if you can email the council d75 counil
schools.nyc.gov with your student ID numbers move over Papas your student ID numbers uh in addition to the violation numbers that would be um extremely helpful for us to uplift this because we also can additionally reach out to your school reach out to you know the busing
coordinators in addition to op to see how we can escalate and generally um I hate to say it people move a little bit swifter um once you have Advocates on your side to push it's not fair but um it's something that we can offer
okay so yes we definitely hear you and I think it's it's extremely I I hear you guys and it makes me just feel sad because it's affecting your lives in a major way for you and for your children and it's not fair and we're trying to figure out how we can talk to these legislators and how we can work with
organizations like piss and how we can amplify parent voices so that they can do something because not enough is being done at all yes okay thank you so much I just wanted to say that just to get you guys a like a real Vivid experience of
daily life on top of if they actually you know if I miss it I got to take my daughter or figure out a way to get her to school which is a half an hour away from my house and I have ch like young three other children it's just it's just insane it's just insane but thank you
for listening that's all yes ma'am no that when you have multiple children it's like ride share isn't something that could work for you at all and they haven't made any level of um acquiescence to fix something on the outside it's like hey here's ride chair but we have two or three more children
that need to get to school and I need to get to work so it doesn't work so I understand that we're going to lift these things up to opt and um to the district and hire but most importantly for the ones who need specific things like the ride share or bus routing we're going to try to push that through to
some of the routing people the burrow Specialists and things of that nature to see what can be done and or to Jacqueline Ortega who is in District 75 who gives out the ride share codes so we're going to work on a lot of these different aspects that you guys are asking for
with that being said Miss Fatima did you want to um unmute to speak your um issue that you may be going through hi good evening um I just want to say a couple of things I'm going be brief number one
as a parent whose child has risen the school bus for for 18 plus years because she started when she was before she got into kindergarten um these problems constant and what makes the difference is Unity I'm getting together and
putting it out there as a group as Sarah said several times when you work together as a group you you be surprised how loud your voice is because they start to realize it's not just one person and even if you're by yourself just keep talking I I it doesn't matter
if I have someone with me or I'm by myself I'm gonna let every time I see them let them know and don't just stop at opt go to your city council member and go to your burrow president go to your uh your assembly speakers at the
state level the Senate the state level go geranii Williams Leti James write it to the governor hit every I mean sorry not hit write to everybody even if it's the same letter just keep sending that letter email is awesome because you can just send to everybody all at once and
then even better if you got family members who you can CC on it who will say yes and I'm upset about the fact that because I put my mom and my other people on and my sibling her older siblings on these emails and they always respond and when they do that it gives a it just multiplies it because now you
don't just have one person sending it to you have a lot of people and everybody's replying in it it's just like the effect of social media it's the same thing use an email and use social media call them out say hey whenever something goes wrong with that app hey Chancellor hey
mayor why is VI app not working today I do it on a regular basis and I say I'm keeping receipts because I screenshot I don't send my screenshots out to social media but I do let them know that I'm keeping receipts so all I'm saying to you you guys are doing a phenomenal job
you just gota you know become more strategic make sure you always send it to every single person that's in your political sphere city council state reps burough reps Governor mayor it don't you you have to hold them accountable why
because we put them in office and they're getting paid to do this work don't let them just sit there and say oh well you know we don't everything's going great no parents complain that's not true we are we're complaining here let them hear you you see them in the street hey wait a
minute Marissa dula you my burrow R why why what you gonna do about these school buses I have I have no shame I have no shame and I will call them out every single time they'll tell you I even call out people from the 75 counsel hey I see
aren you on the 75 coun oh yeah yeah like dang she won't even stop that's me thank you for no I completely thank you for even for giving us your messaging and for your for your stories because this is what helps us Elevate is real life stories real life people with
things like this going on um co-chair Jessica Rivera you said you um wanted to uh speak and then I think Mrs um Sao you couldn't raise your hand but you had a question are you still um here Miss Melissa
Sao oh yes yes I'm here you may speak I I know you were waiting for a while forgive me for um skipping you accidentally yes I have an issue whereas um my son was routed home and to school but whatever I had
problems with somebody keeping my child after school so I end up changing the route to send him to a daycare what if I do have somebody now at home so when I route back the bus now it's a problem as somebody was saying in the chat earlier when you put in the um the ticket they
just um emailing you back it solved when you log in to my school chart you know you're not it's it's the same way that it was before so when I do call opw um the girl was like they don't have no route right now and you know they're
going to put it on file until whenever to get a route to reroute him back home so I said what happened to the route that he was on before because he was picked up and dropped off at home but because of nobody here to deal with him after school I had to send no choice to
send him to a daycare so now where's the route I give our boat routes I said I don't want him to go to the daycare anymore I want him to route back home so she said I don't have a route at the moment that you have no route at all um are they so just to go in the morning
but to bring him home that's the issue so I have to you know get somebody to pick him up and bring him home are they offering you ride share for the even nope nothing nothing would you be able to um email the council with your students ID number
and any violation numbers in the school um that your student is in so we can try to um escalate that and assist you when we reach out to jacine for the ride share codes yes presently no I'm sending out an email because I have the email from the chat so firstly now I'm sending all the information perfect perfect
perfect okay um Miss uh council member Rivera Jessica hi yes I'm here I'm sorry I had a little bit of difficulty on muting so yeah I have questions for um Sarah I'm hearing
you yes I wanted to know um in terms of quality assurance with opt right because I I hear the parents saying for example you call the bus companies and they don't answer or you call opt and there's people who are right not really
sensitive or understanding right um what measures do they have for quality assurance right are their lines recorded are these things red right um the bus companies can you make a report to say you know what they never answer the phone and in what ways can they or are they held liable um and I totally
understand the parents because I myself as a parent right I I have gone through this exactly myself every single thing that's being set on this call right um so I they did change the um they did recently change the opt you
know that 718 number to say that is I think it says maybe recorded um you could record it but as far as the as far as the bus company um there's supposed to be a audits going
on by the city controller and they're listening to us about whatever patterns we notice so you know um that's again another reason to name um the company when you when
you spell out your complaint to other Advocates and even to you know the official authorities um the um oh what was I going to say that was a
mouthful um it's not what we would do you know what I'm saying if the parents were in charge of this it would not be done so haphazardly um they really you know other other cities have either just
one company or they own their Fleet and then you know if one bus base needs another bus they can send it over from another base in another part of that City but because it's all split up and subcontracted to all these different
people it's really hard to get cooperation between them that's not why you know that's not how it's set up um so yeah it's it's not it hasn't really been a question on those um
parent surveys that come from the board of V they ask about your principal they ask about this and that but it's maybe one question about transportation in a blue moon not as detailed there's no you
know you don't get to do a report card for your bus company however we as a bus school bus movement which is what I consider it because when you look at this week there was three meetings next week there's three meetings you know
people are on our toes about this and we are on fire about making some changes um then you can have like the list of the top 10 you know we can we can come
up with our own ways of protesting and spotlighting um the the worst offenders Sarah not to interrupt you would we be able to pull in maybe like the president's Council so that they can speak to the schools that do have the
ptas and we can get the ptas and the parents involved and they can start letting us know um like maybe making our own report cards that they give their own feedback and we can like add that up with something you know what I'm saying of course yeah no the the district 75
president council is out in front about this um you know um there's a whole survey that's in English Spanish and Chinese Mandarin um well it's more of a
support form to try to get people's stories and escalate but at the same time it's data so hopefully we that will be shared um on the 15th which is a collaboration you know and in other
places and if we have to do a we can uplift ours we have our survey that's consistently ongoing and we can give you the most updated information because we've had hundreds of parents fill it out okay yeah I think um it's time yeah to put you know to put a ranking on this
be on on the companies because until they get rid of that that thing about having them um you know supposedly the contract is only if they meet certain
criteria but clearly that's not that's not being upheld the way that we as parents would like to uphold it and again it comes down to who's running the system and who's living through it so um it it is really good that so
many people came on the call and are still on but the bad thing is that you're here because you have these real horror stories and um you know you're not alone and that's a good thing and a bad thing like it would be nice if there was only one person with a bus problem
we could wrap this up but there are certainly hundreds and thousands if there were short 300 drivers that's a lot of kids that adds up to a lot of families and the ripple effect that folks have mentioned on your jobs and your mental health and
everything else so I don't know if I answered your question satisfactory Jessica but it's mostly no not yet and we got to keep pushing sure Sarah so my next question what would be your recommendations right
in terms of right get really exposing the right because it's not it's not a hidden secret right we know this is a problem right but I think sometimes when things go a little silent again you know it it just falls through the cracks and I don't mean to say that but that is what essentially happen you know um but
just to continue to shed light on the severity of the issue here in the city um you know how do we get the attention to this problem no you're right it's there's I mean all of the all of the media have an
education reporter and we know some of them and then they you know they come in and out but mostly um it would be like a very extreme Sensational case of somebody's Child G forid getting lost or left or
you know harmed um and and that's what they write about and they don't always present this whole context of how it's a really a
top- down problem and you know it's not just a bad apple here or there it's it's a topown system that needs a systemwide approach and a different kind of of leadership um I'm going to put in the
chat the um the form that I mentioned just because if you throw your information into there uh it you know it will help then come out with a chart that really shows like this percentage
of the people didn't get a bus parot this percentage of the people can't get through to the company Etc you know the data hopefully is something else um the the um Christy mentioned
about the panel for Education policy and they meet every month and the education reporters go there and that issue that I um explained about the American Sign Language School that was brought up by
two different people at that pet one who is the president of the president's Council and one who's a longtime Advocate and that got fixed from that meeting until you know election day um
so yeah when you embarrass them enough you get things to happen which is a terrible way for something to be set up but um we have we're going to be loud yes everybody's got the right idea tonight be loud be angry that's why our
name is pissed parents to improve School transportation but it's pist for sure not for not by accident so I'll stop there no Sarah we always love you and the information that you're giving because it is very helpful you you are
very tenur in spaces where we are not so we thank you for linking and joining with us so that we can stand in support um of the parents we always appreciate pist and we say if we can't do it we're gonna add you in because you guys might know more and guys FYI there is a Facebook group do you have your link for
pissed we have a Facebook group we have our um CC d75 um website to keep you guys in touch with different things that are going on but if you want to stay in community and up to date um I would say follow us and or follow pissed because
uh Sarah does an extremely great job um with engaging with parents daily Mrs uh Eric kimus you have a question or a concern hi good night everyone um I'm a concer parents like everyone here um my
son was not given bus services this year for for x or y reason you know um so I was given um the the share right option so I was like okay I can do that however at
the beginning I had a really really bad experience with them my my address is 1881 stanh Hope Street and I live in Ridgewood every day for two weeks they
were saying we are here and I'm like well I'm outside already waiting for you I don't see you and they'll be like well I'm outside and I'm like just come out and I'm like I'm already out where are you and we will be like going back in Fort like that and then I be like well
where are you like which building are you on and are you between the street of underdonk and Woodward and he'll be like no I'm in Evergreen I'm like why are you doing all the way down there and then they noticed that it was because my
address is 18 and in the system they put it with a dash 81 stanh Hope Street and that's why they were not coming to my house so I will have to call you know um the dispatch
and I will be telling them Hey listen I've been having this problem because of that Dash is there any way that you can take it out and he'll be like no because that's how the system puts it and I'm like well is there any way that you can put there that you know
my address is between this street and this street because they're going all the way down in Evergreen and i' had the most when I say when I say it was infuriating cuz I was telling her I was
not even screaming at her I was like I just need you guys to let me know if you're going to pick me up because it's already I I I asked for the for the right to be here at 8 and it's already 8:30 I need to know if I need to get a move on and you know take my kid to
school somehow cuz you're not coming she said that I was being rude that I didn't like I I was being all over the top and I'm like I just need to know if you're going to do your job and you're like oh and then in a in a back and forth thing
she hang up on me I call back and then she will place me on hold I don't know if they're able to see my phone number and then they placed me on hole and it was like that for an hour I'm not kidding you I was like that for an hour so I
gave it a rest and then I called back in the evening and then I was I requested to speak with supervisor and they deny me the supervisor Place me on hold for 30 minutes hang up on me I had to call
back again it was a whole deal and I'm like do they get monitor is this the way they're treating people you know yes I know that by for a fact they not only
provide services for our kids who are like they they're neurod diverging kids but they also provide services to sick people and she didn't even ask me you know who where am I or what is my situation no she just kept being rude hang up on me and keep P me ho and this
is very infuriating to me because if what if I'm in a will chair and you just left me hanging you just left me there you know what I mean I it get are you did you call back I'm sorry not to interrupt you did you call back to put a complaint on this person I did call I
put a complaint and then they told me because I finally got someone to listen to me and then she goes like Oh is there really don't have a supervisor I'm like um Miss Sarah it says the school has to contact their op
liaison to contact the Queen's router to fix it and this is how you fix your address with opt with the school's help sometimes I cheat there sometimes Sarah and I reach out to the router if I'm not supposed to let me know me if it's really a desperate situation yes cuz
this is silly and the thing about it is is that the company doesn't write the route opt writes the route so that opt is the only one who can go in and change it on a certain screen we actually got had somebody who used to work at opt who
stalks on Facebook and and actually put in some helpful answer and that's what's at the link um that we just put and I tried to tag you Erica no yeah I tried to do that with opt and
then I send them they told me that I needed to not you Mama I'm so sorry it's the school has to fix something on their system you know these are the older systems and they don't like just everything doesn't just connect so the it if you read the thing and you still
have a question come back you know to to us or to the um the same Facebook group but the school has to fix it on the certain screen with certain letters I don't know what they call it by heart and then they have to tell opt hey take
a look at our I think it's the bio the ATS bio for the student and then it's a biographical the thing I did tell everyone like I spoke with the school about this and they were like okay they think they know what they're doing they
don't always know this is it yeah you can't you can't let them have you keep suffering but that's ridiculous I'm sorry I'm not mad at you at all it's just the whole Sarah let me ask you something is it something about the
software that they're using to Route what can we do like that's another that's another whole thing but let's try to help out mom for a second here oh no I mean I I I found my own solution after that cuz after two weeks of doing that
back and forth hanging up and being placed oh I was like you know what they never have a problem like if if dropping me off school because it's a three-digit number and then I I talked to my neighbor in the in the corner and I'm like listen I'm going to give your address so they can pick me up every day
from your address I have fixed the problem I had to change the address to for pickup I I actually asked him to pick me up in the corner and I had to let my my neighbor know because he will be seeing me in the corner of his home every day waiting for the for the taxi
and stuff like that that so he's like but the thing is that I right share you're talking about ride share yeah so I I I was able to do that on my end but the thing is that what happens to these other kids they have special needs and
the parents are going through stuff like that that's just I want I wanted to you know bring up to you guys because I again I was able to find a solution but I don't know if someone else will be able to find a solution or they if they know what to do so I just wanted to
bring that up uh and also if there's any parents that lives around the area that I can take your kids to your to the school I'll be more than happy to help with that because I do believe that we are a community and I know there's a lot
of like single parents that they don't have no one and I know how awful that is and I don't want no parents to ever feel like they're alone cuz I've been there and is not not nice being the press and
feeling like you know this is it so I I just want to let everyone know that you're not alone and then we can work things out together thank you so much and we will still stand in support with you uh please make sure to email us the the
council and um pist NYC at um Gmail so we can make sure to uplift what is happening with you in addition to the parents that are um on here Sarah you said that's a good idea with using a neighbor address the ride share apps definitely have issues with Queen's addresses with and without the dash that
I did not know yeah so I did what I did I use and they have like a three-digit address it's 392 Woodward so that's I guess that's easy and nowhere else to go okay okay this is something to uplift
thank you guys um for let's see for offering that Miss ernesta Thomas were you able you I think you are next with your hand raised are you available yes I'm here I finally figured it out it was right there in my face the whole
time thank you um and good evening everyone um my concern that I'm having is um with the bus app so my son um his school information is correct in the NYC
uh schools account but in the app they have all of his old school information I called the school and I called OTP to try to have that corrected because from what I'm understanding
whatever's in the the the NYC schools app should be reflected in the um the bus app but it's not um so thank goodness though the bus company does have the correct information we haven't had any problems with them bringing him
or dropping him off to the incorrect place but I'm not able to track the bus and when they pull up they they're not calling because they're saying you're supposed to use the app so I even showed the bus driver and the bus maton I said
look I'm not able to track the bus because it has all of his old information from his previous school and everybody looks with their eyes wide open and like wow so I'm like can you at least give me a courtesy call
since I'm not able to track you until this situation can get worked out and they said no they're not allowed to do that but now so in the mornings we're okay because they kind of been coming around the same time so I have no
problem with with the the morning pickup but in the afternoon I understand you know it's rush hour and stuff like that the afternoon can vary but it's harder in the afternoon because actually changed my lunch hour with my job to
make sure I can be there to pick him up in the afternoon but if they're coming 30 minutes out from what they was coming before it does make a difference for me you know I'm constantly having to ask for changes in my schedule and you know
the jobs they try to be accommodating but they kind of they don't want to hear nothing about you having a child care issue they just want their work done you was hired to do a work they're already doing a courtesy for you and then to constantly keep saying oh I'mma Be a
little you know 30 minutes late or 15 minutes late can I change my hour again today you know so it gets a little a little bit much and I can't use the app because of that reason it has the old information and nobody seems to know how to fix it I reached out to the school I
reached out to OTP I reached out to the bus coordinator and nobody has an answer so I'm need some help with that and then like um my son does have a iPhone so I'm able to track him through the find my
phone but on the days that I have to leave to go back to work or whatever and I have my mom or my sister or somebody else pick him up they have no idea when that bus is coming in the afternoon because they don't have iPhone so they can't track
him and then this is when that bus app would come in handy if I was able to to actually utilize it wow yeah there's a ton of problems with that
app and and I took screenshots and everything to show them the difference and so every and I sent it in a compiled email and I'm like this is what the difference is I don't understand why it's not being reflected and even when I put in my ticket with OTP I explained to
them if if you guys are putting in the route information and everything else why can't you just go ahead in there and put the correct school because you the guy you guys are the one that's dictating where the bus should go and everything else so why you can't change
the school information to be um reflective in in the app and they said they can't I think Sarah do you think it's time to like ask opt to have some level of a follow up um like Town Hall well that's in regard to this via app and busing we normally do it at the the top
of the year but um what do you what do you think have you guys had like a town hall with um laquana and them speaking about the app again or anything like that laquana Chambers uh is the one that walked us through it before so that's who I want to reach out to to ask these
via um app questions with what's going on to see they gave us the smok and mirrors of we're working on this blah blah blah but there's no deadlines there's no this is what's transpired kind of thing and I want parents to be and us to be more informed about it so
do you think that's something that we should lift up or should we just escalate for right now and then at some point try to collaboratively pull them back in for a larger meeting well maybe I mean does your Council have a plan to
get them in but the most of the stuff I saw about the app it was the um it was like face what do you call it Beyond access series um I'm putting something in the chat which is a survey about people's issues with the app there's a
lot and they actually I'm it's okay Sarah I'm going to take our newsletter and let one section just be about busing and where you can file complaints and who to can file who yeah just all of this has to go for parents to be able to maybe it's just going to be a blessing newsletter and resources on the side
because this is ridiculous um and the more information that we get from parents collectively at schools um with the ride chair issues with the via app we can really use that with the data to say hey this is how you guys are feeling like I I don't have time to say Hey guys you're doing a great job sometimes they
are in this space we're not talking about a great job we're talking about parents who are suffering and children who are being failed that's right it's it's making or breaking people's educational access which we already fought for you know
so yeah um then with the schools I really want to uplift it because you guys may not know some principles in some schools I think are a little bit ashamed or scared to say hey this is the route that's not working or this is whatever that's not working and they
have students that are not in school and um let's just try to circumvent what we can and say hey this is what I know these are children that aren't in school these are children that are with as with the learning school like four four five of you guys are here and honestly at the same time I've been trying to chat with
our um family members who speak Mandarin there are three or four parents from a mandarin school p-53 and they have the same issue too so there are collective clumps of schools that are having issues and I think that's big for us to try to collectively highlight to see which
companies are really extremely problematic so I'm going to speak with some council members Sarah I'll talk to you offline and just see what you guys are doing and where we can come in in collaboration um Mr Elijah Hobs your hand is up yeah hi
so I just want take this opportunity just to thank everybody for being here tonight thank you guys for listening to us I'm quite sure all of the issues that has been stated tonight all of us have been like validated because we all have at some point or another experience these issues but I think what perplexed
me with the whole thing is that I think I heard at the beginning of the me it's like was $9 million to update the infrastructure to this whole thing and all I'm hearing tonight is a bunch of logistical challenges where technology
can fix most of it and I'm telling as parents do not take the crap about the app ain't working this and app ain't working that there is so much technology out there right now that this that whole app issue could be the thing of the past
the problem is is that when there are State contracts and things there's so much intermingle and problems and red tape that causes other issues where they'll hold on to one contractor and we let them go I know this because I work with a lot of them and I see the politics
that plays in them and the people who suffer at the end is the people at the bottom of the totem pole like us as parents because they won't let this person go or they won't let that contractor go the technology is there they can invest in that technology and
fix this whole routing issue because either that or somebody can sit there with the map and they can start marking up and make the route themselves I I can't quite understand how it is okay for anybody to sit there and create a route for kids that have special needs
knowing what time they need to be the school knowing how the traffic of New York City Works and just be okay with a kid being on the bus for two hours and a half I don't even understand how it is okay for it to just kind of go past all
of the people who are making the decisions at the top or choosing to ignore or whatever may be actually happening for parents to be the lose lose four hours a day of work there are some people that would do something like that and probably wouldn't even have a
job anymore that is I just can't quite understand and I I just somehow I I'm here I'm listening to it and I've I've been experiencing some companies that this kind of logistical issue would have been fixed already so I just don't
understand why is it hasn't been fixed why everybody's dragging their feet why are people having issues with the app why are busing companies getting away with what they're doing why are they not being put on notice so the other part of it is management no proper oversight no
enforcement of you know people o following the policy or whatever contract they sign with the city no one's holding them accountable so they're doing what they're doing and here we go kids are suffering again we got kids on buses longer than they should we got kids being left we have
kids um having bad experiences and then we have schools frustrated it was really nice to hear that you know there is a cold that we if your kid is absent because of the busing issue you know because all of a sudden it can reflect on you as if you had kid out of school
for longer than they should have been for whatever the case may be but a positive note I would just want to say to every single parent here tonight not only thank you for being here but I I I applaud you for being able to fight
because this kind of fight takes another level of mental strength and emotional strength to even fight the emails the phone calls it's almost it becomes a whole job in itself and someone that hasn't experienced it couldn't quite
exactly understand that you know being on the phone being hung up on a dozen times dealing with someone that's being absolutely rude and and disrespectful or someone that could care less or sending out emails and they're like they're going into
space Mr Hobs um uh and I'm saying this to him but everyone else parents are allowed to be a part of our busing committee if you would like to be on a larger scale of this work please email
us and or let us know give us your email and we will move differently when we have our busing meetings so that um you can help us escalate Elevate and do things on another level if you so feel the need to um join on the fight on a bigger level you absolutely can join us
and we would welcome you um into the fight Mr hob you sound like somebody we want over here you definitely want Elijah Hobbs monif was next and I'm not going say anything else Elijah is in my class so
this is the thing that I want to say and I keep on saying I'mma shut up but I can't it's eight years with a minor issue this is the thing we saw what happened um two days ago or last night or whatever right yes and with our
position as parents to special needs children and my job as a substitute teacher with the possibility not even the possibility with the Advent of the dismantling of the Department of
Education we talking a lot tonight right I don't even feel that at this point we need to look at the violation numbers and see who's it because this is just a small percentage of people who are available to be on the call this
evening the thing is this will get snatched right right and then what happens in the classroom will get snatched so we need this part before it's snatched to get resolved
immediately because it will get snatched this will get snatched my job will get snatched I am one of the single moms on the call you know like in it Miss no it no it no it will not with the people on this C I hope not I hope not cuz we are
we are parents too we are parents too I know for the council member who was on the phone who said that she heard all complaints I'm like then you already know they got to fix this tomorrow yes none of us have the time to be at the mayor's office to to get it right and to
sit there all night and pro we've been protesting since we've had these babies we've had the issue of the babies in our laps from the time we found out there was the issue this is not one more thing that we need in our laps it's it's just not we got to fix it
I'mma shut up and guys so as we as we wrap this conversation up and I want to tell you again thank you for being honest with your emotions with your energy with your stories and um even for the people apologies today we did try to sign up for interpretation because we do
want to keep language um Equity um in the meeting unfortunately we did not have it I was able to help with the Mandarin and I know that they can't hear it I I'll I'll put it in the chat but uh thank you Miss Rivera also for being able to um give us equity for the people
who didn't have someone that was here tonight moving forward we will have banga Spanish Mandarin to make sure that everyone has a space to be able to adequately um speak their minds in this space and we do want you P
Monifa uh I have your email I'm gonna email you offline because we're gonna pull you in too you and Mr Hobbs we need strong parents um and I'm sure like we're pissed we everybody's pissed people are livid and we have a reason and we need Crystal please add me as
well yes ABS absolutely absolutely and so what Sarah what I'm going to do is send you the list of all the parents who registered tonight so we don't miss anyone and that they can stay in the loop with what we're doing and what you guys are doing um in the fight for our
policy changes Law changes and to get some of these people with contracts up out of here because they really do need to go especially also Sarah I wanted to lift up schools are responsible for sensitivity training for the bus Paris and the drivers how are we adequately
measuring if that is happening at all well individual schools it's not so much that they're responsible it's that they can organize something and they you know
now and then it happens I think it's probably harder that happen when you have people driving double routes but if you you know if you have a lot of buses coming to your school you can suggest that the
staff the PTA or somebody and you know invite them in for a quick breakfast and a little exchange of information like this is what the OT says to the kids when they need to regulate or you know any kind of tip that you can give them
or understanding they claimed at the city council in September that on Election Day a thousand or so bus employees were going to receive an Autism training I don't know it was a
pilot they know but as a council ask the special education um Department asked John Hammer how what was that and where is it and can we see it and you know how did it go and how can we help and do do they have anybody actually autistic
involved or you know self Advocates um but the there's all kinds of training that happens but um the training realistically in this world the more you demanding of people the more
you have to kind of compensate them and give them respect and not you know keep giving them 4 Hour routes cuz if our kids are on there for 2 and a half they're on there for 4 for um so I did talk to the um the ATU
um chief of staff and she said that after the holidays somebody from the union will come do a Q&A with you guys as well um okay thank you so yeah we can keep talking about that online as well for the
calendar um but yeah it's um it's the only really the attendant who gets some training um and the driver is supposed to be able to concentrate and just drive but that's a lot of training too but again we want to catch our like our
young people in um the high school and start giving them some pre-training just like how they had pre- nursing at Clara Barton back in the and you know and then they have to really take the real nursing but we could do some things to
get people ready to work with students with disabilities and all the different aspects of their transportation we desperately need bus Paras that some somebody can do that with a high school diploma but they need to have the heart
for it and you know some tools to to do it effectively with students who you know who need that they need it because of emotional and and medical conditions so they got to be on top of their game
there's some teaching schools we could reach out to for that like in CI and tuni and um Community College y yes yes where's Fatima Fatima used to teach that education class not this year but yeah
I'm here so what do you think about about encouraging people to to go into student trans Transportation as well as education I think that would be a good idea but I think that one of the things
like each of the um burrow transition centers they have these um trainings where they help them become a behavior paer why can't they also help them become a bus paer yes um or help them become like you said earlier um part of
the travel training group or you know give them because then viable careers that they can take with them and do things with them outside of um because the students in diction 75 uh in a whole different the spectrum is long and so you have different students with
different skills and it would be great for them to have something that um that they that they able to make a afford a living wage on um that they don't have to depend on just okay I'll take social security for the rest of my life but maybe they want to you know do more um
teach them to be the customer service reps teach them I mean there's so many different things that um these young people can do and and and and the the good thing is in District 75 they do have the vocational programs for
them and it's just a matter of getting the powers that be to recognize that these children are learning something there and they have a skill that they can take them and get them um get the get these jobs they keep saying they can't find nobody to work them but then
they they're ignoring the whole population yeah incentivized companies do it all the time I have done it with the companies that I work students the students want to work the students want to work they don't think of them as being viable but they are they learn how
to be par half the par in District 75 were former students in District 75 and they really put their they have a whole another level of how they handle things they know how to get that student to calm down to work work with them you
know and and it's just amazes me how they give them all these they teach them they train them but they don't want to work have them work it's like they keep saying there's no they don't want to work and they do they just sitting at home waiting for someone to call them
well we have spaces Miss Fatima where we can uplift that like I really um love hearing you guys' voices when we're in these meetings and I really hope that you continue to come back because we need you know a collective punch um in this area and we need some parents that are on fire who are willing to activate
um with us to make some of this happen um with elevating the voices and as uh Sarah put into the chat as you're uh using your voices on social media hasht where's my bus they have a lawyer that is tracking this that is also working um
with the organization um and we definitely support them and we want to support um their levels of advocacy as well so while we're online if it's a busing ISS no matter what it is Hash where's my bus so that we can uh keep that LinkedIn and keep people informed
again um I want to thank you guys for coming out and and sharing your stories and being willing to put a light on what's wrong so that we can um continue to Advocate and um move accordingly for you and for our students um as I did say
we're going to make sure to have all of this information um in our newsletter we're I'm going to update our website as well so that we can have this information viable and available to parents because if they don't hear it they don't know it um and we all are
continuing to learn as we move through these different spaces again um before we close um I'm seeing that people are putting in their emails uh we do have our council's email 11 of you have emailed so far thank you um if you want us to jump on something by the morning
please email us tonight I don't want to rush you if you want to do it tomorrow tomorrow we still will be available to move something through on a Friday before Monday so don't worry um again we want to say thank you whatever you have in the chat it is saved we'll be able to pull it up and still stay in
communication with you there is a list of busing meetings that are going to be happening with piss NYC this month that is in the chat I will make sure to send all of these resources to you guys collectively um in an email blast and we'll make sure that your information is
also given to piss so that you're able to uh stay involved on many different levels with that being said Do we have any parent that was overlooked anyone that wanted to speak that did not get the opportunity if not just know that we have a website
cc75 Outreach on YouTube all of our meetings are recorded and posted there if you miss something you never miss something if you need to share it with someone you will have access to share that meeting with someone and just know we always here you don't want to keep you long I know you still got to get up
for school tomorrow so um thank you guys for all of your emails Sarah as always thank you so much for how you guys show up um for our parents um and for our students it is extremely appreciated Monifa Mr Hobs um where's what's the
other lady I don't see Crystal I'll be reaching out um I am not the chair of this uh our chair is co-president Daniels and uh Jessica Rivera who is on the line now and with that I'm going to hand the over to miss Rivera so that she can close out our meeting do you have
any final words thank you so much everyone who participated in the meeting tonight um you know I really really appreciate you being vocal tonight we really appreciate that and we just want to let you know that this is always a safe space for you
to vent we all need that safe space um you know and definitely you know keep keep being pissed you know like what it is just keep pounding at it um you know I know we have to just really get loud about this and and just really push this forward um you know we're with everybody
here from one parent to another awesome sauce and with that being said everyone have an amazing night if you didn't get to email us oh Sarah what is the Facebook page did you facebook.com groups pissed NC guys so
facebook.com slrps p snyc we're going to make sure they have it in our newsletter you guys will always have access to this but if you want to have an ongoing conversation piss is doing that on Facebook with a multitude of
parents and it is a great community so we do encourage you to join again we thank you guys for being here and we're going to adjourn this meeting at 8:25 pm. uh thank you all and have an amazing night good night night great job
hosting thank you for hearing our pay I appreciate your assistance in this matter and the tool receive more than welcome good night everyone good night