D.C. sued over ‘failure’ to bus kids with disabilities to and from school

Most children in D.C. get to school on public buses and trains. But about 4,000 students rely on a fleet of school buses because they have physical or intellectual disabilities that prevent them from using public transportation or require them to attend faraway schools that offer special services.

Five families and the Arc of the United States nonprofit say the buses often arrive hours after children’s scheduled pickup times and return them home long after school has ended. Parents across the city have reported calling the police because they could not locate their children or using Apple AirTags to track their kids after school, said Kathy Zeisel, director of special legal projects at the Children’s Law Center.

Joann McCray, whose 12-year-old son has autism and who is one of the parents suing the city, said the frequent bus delays forced her to purchase a car. “I didn’t want a car note, but I want to get my son to school on time,” said McCray, who lives in Southeast Washington. She said the busing problems had led to frequent late arrivals at school, affecting her son’s attendance and grades.

McCray and other parents in the city say they have tried other channels — making phone calls, sending emails and complaining to lawmakers — to no avail. Now, they are taking the issue to court. The suit accuses the city, and its Office of the State Superintendent of Education, which manages the buses, of “systemic failures” that violate local policies and federal laws entitling their children to a fair education.

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The plaintiffs are asking the court to order D.C. leaders to follow students’ special education plans and provide them with “safe, reliable, and appropriate transportation services.” They have asked for compensatory education to make up for schooling children may have missed, as well as policy changes to prevent future problems.

An OSSE spokesman said the agency does not comment on pending litigation, but officials have previously acknowledged the problems with the school bus service and pointed to a national shortage of drivers. The agency created a website that shows which buses are running behind schedule, reimburses families if they have to make other travel arrangements and is working on a new program to increase the number of drivers.

During a recent D.C. Council hearing, the superintendent’s office shared that 96 percent of buses have left their terminals on time this school year. But that figure does not indicate whether a bus makes it to a child’s house or school on time.

“We do track internally what time the buses get to the school,” Christina Grant, the city’s state superintendent of education, told lawmakers. “What we share out is what time buses leave because that’s the information that gets to parents, and they know that if the bus leaves the terminal 15 minutes late, there’s going to be a trickle-down effect on when the bus is going to show up to … their home.”

But families said the information that the superintendent’s office shares about a bus’s status has been inaccurate. And, according to the lawsuit, families are not notified when their children’s buses encounter delays after leaving the terminal — leaving them unaware of when to expect their children to be picked up or dropped off.

This often triggers a last-minute scramble for different accommodations. Families have reported ordering Ubers or taking time away from work to complete school drop-off or pickup themselves. Crystal Robertson, the guardian of her 11-year-old nephew, who relies on a school bus, has turned to her adult son or teenage niece for help. Robertson’s niece, who is in high school, has been late to school on days when she had to help her brother, she said.

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Robertson’s nephew has autism and thrives based on routines, she said. When his bus is late, it throws his entire day off — causing tantrums and making it difficult for him to focus when he finally does get to school. “After that, it’s just pure emotion and panic mode,” she said.

Robertson called her experiences with the superintendent’s office “horrible.” On one occasion, her nephew’s bus driver took him to the wrong school, she said, and another time, he was dropped off in the afternoon at his late mother’s house. Robertson said her family had to split up to find him. “As he’s getting off the bus, he’s excited like he’s going to see his mom,” she said. “To me, [the superintendent’s office] didn’t show no remorse about what they were doing.”

Now, Robertson said, the superintendent’s office sends a private van to pick up her nephew.

But other families are still looking for relief. In addition to late arrivals, the complaint claims that bus drivers have picked children up from school early. Sometimes, students are not picked up from school at all, according to the lawsuit.

The suit also alleges that students have had to endure long bus rides where they couldn’t access food, medications or bathrooms. Other times, buses are missing the supports or accommodations — such as wheelchair accessibility, nurses or aides — that riders with disabilities need.

Elizabeth Daggett, who lives in Brookland, told council members recently that her son came home late once because his bus didn’t have the latch for his safety harness. He had to stay at school until another bus could get him, she said.

“It is already a heavy lift for families to care for a disabled child, but when the support services break down, it is overwhelming,” Daggett wrote in her testimony to lawmakers. “It is unsustainable for families to have to continue to figure out student transportation and unacceptable that OSSE allowed this dire situation to happen.”