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Chicago Public Colleges officers stated Friday that the district has made headway in offering pupil transportation after a rocky autumn.
CEO Pedro Martinez instructed the college board that 148 college students with disabilities are ready for college bus rides, down from about 1,200 at first of the college yr. He stated a criticism with the Illinois State Board of Schooling concerning the district’s failure to offer rides to college students with disabilities has been closed. And the district is gearing as much as begin offering rides to a small variety of basic training college students at selective enrollment or magnet faculties for the primary time because the 2022-23 faculty yr.
Martinez stated that on Dec. 9, the district will launch a pilot program wherein some campuses function transportation hubs, beginning with a number of faculties in under-resourced neighborhoods. The district is selecting these centralized pickup and dropoff campuses utilizing its Alternative Index, a measure that elements in pupil demographics, neighborhood traits, and different metrics, the faculties chief stated.
Households eligible for rides from these hubs to their faculties will get calls the week of Thanksgiving, he stated. Extra faculty hubs can be added later this faculty yr, so long as the setup isn’t worsening commute occasions and entry to rides for college kids with disabilities.
“I pledge to you that we’ll not cease engaged on this situation,” Martinez stated.
Lately, the district has struggled to offer rides for college kids and its efforts to take care of the difficulty repeatedly got here beneath fireplace, whilst officers blamed a nationwide bus driver scarcity and a strike at certainly one of its transportation contractors this fall. Final faculty yr, after the state launched an inquiry into the district’s issues with busing college students with disabilities, the district stopped offering rides to any basic training college students.
Advocates for college kids with disabilities filed their newest criticism with the state this fall, alleging that CPS is in violation of a federal legislation that requires districts to offer transportation companies for college kids with disabilities. Martinez stated that criticism has been resolved.
However CPS Mother and father for Buses, a gaggle shaped final faculty yr in response to the transportation points, famous in an announcement that district leaders stated again in the summertime that they might pilot the hub mannequin throughout the yr’s first quarter.
“It’s inexcusable that, two months after faculty started, some college students with disabilities nonetheless lack transportation, and 1000’s of low-income and English language learners nonetheless don’t have a secure approach to get to varsities,” the group stated.
CPS officers stated they obtain new transportation requests each day, and a number of the college students awaiting rides requested them in latest weeks.
“Our high precedence stays getting our college students with disabilities on bus routes inside 10 days of their requests,” Martinez stated.
Charles Mayfield, the district’s chief working officer, stated the district has added new transportation distributors and has 835 drivers this fall in comparison with about 720 two years in the past. In response to a query from board member Debbie Pope, he stated the district estimates it might want about 1,300 drivers to supply rides to all college students whose households request them.
Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter overlaying Chicago Public Colleges. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.
