Agency that buses disabled DC kids to school admits half the fleet is out of service

School bus drivers within the District of Columbia say so many OSSE-DOT buses are currently out of service that they are being pressured to drive buses unfit for the road, a claim the agency denies. (7News)

WASHINGTON (7News) —The newly hired director of the city agency that buses more than 3,100 disabled school children in the District of Columbia to class each day told D.C. councilmembers Wednesday that roughly half of the agency’s buses are out of service because of mechanical issues

“The number of buses that is out of service varies. It is about 296,” Dan Winston, Director of the Division of Student Transportation for the Office of the State Superintendent of Education, told D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson

“So half of your fleet is available. Half is not?” Mendelson asked?

RELATED | Drivers issue safety warning about DC school buses

“That’s correct,” Winston replied

Winston’s revelation confirms what dozens of drivers told the 7News I-Team last week

Margaret Morton, a school bus driver with 40 years of experience serving the district, labeled the district’s four school bus depots “junkyards,” and told 7News hundreds of buses were tagged with “Out of Service” notices, a figure OSSE-DOT officials disputed at the time

Morton and dozens of other drivers who met with the 7News I-Team to air their safety concerns said maintenance is so backlogged that the buses they do drive each day are often unfit for the road

Drivers said it’s routine, for example, to drive buses with a “Check Engine” warning light illuminated or, in cases Morton cited, buses have to be “jump-started” to get going in the morning

The overwhelming majority of DCPS students take the metro or city buses to school with a free pass. But each school day, approximately 317 buses transport more than 3,100 DC students with disabilities to school

Winston told D.C. councilmembers Wednesday that while more than 330 buses are in service, demand for the bus service “continues to grow.”

“The number of eligible students has grown by 8% this year and by 25% over the past four years,” Winston said

He added that 1300 families opt to receive a $400 monthly stipend to offset the cost of their disabled student’s transportation to school. That cost, $400, represents 10% of the cost of transporting a student on a bus, Winston said

Winston told councilmembers the stipend program “Continues to demonstrate how empowering families with flexible transportation options can improve service while ensuring responsible stewardship of public funds.”

D.C. Councilmember At-Large Elissa Silverman told parents that they had every right to feel “frustrated and angry” with the unreliable OSSE-DOT school bus system

“You keep coming before your government, telling us what is wrong, and it’s essentially Groundhog Day without the humor of Bill Murray,” Silverman told a panel of parents and educators

Jennifer Lewis, whose 15-year-old daughter relies on the OSSE-DOT buses, told councilmembers that during the first three weeks of this school year her daughter’s bus was late every day but one

“On nearly half those days, she arrived home more than two hours after dismissal,” Lewis added

RELATED | Unreliable school buses leave DC parents frustrated with few good options

Mendelson cited OSSE-DOT’s own data, which he said shows the percentage of disabled students arriving after the first bell and missing instructional time has increased from roughly 6% last year to 8% this school year

“It’s not making me feel like we’re getting better; it’s getting worse,” Mendelson said

“Late routes are not acceptable,” Winston acknowledged. “There’s something we have to do better with. What we’re grappling with is an increase in the number of eligible students and an increase in the number of students who ride the bus.”

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Source: wjla.com