City Hall – Council Member Simcha Felder (D-Brooklyn) joined Council Members David Yassky (D-Brooklyn), Robert Jackson (D-Manhattan), Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum, and education advocacy groups to protest the Department of Education’s (DOE) plan to redraw school bus routes for the third time in two years.

Last year, DOE’s implementation of new school bus routes was a disaster, leaving some public and non-public school students stranded at bus stops in the middle of the winter, while others spent up to two hours on school buses. Standing in front of the Department of Education building, Felder and Yassky insisted that any new plan to change school bus routes need to be presented to the community for feedback before being implemented.

“After the mess that was created last year when school bus routes were changed, it’s not enough for DOE to just say ‘trust us,’” said Felder. “This is an issue that affects both public and non-public school students. The parents need to know their children can get to and from school safely and in a timely manner.”

“School buses are a kitchen table concern for families throughout the City,” said Yassky. “They’re also a deeply personal issue, because parents have to entrust their children’s safety to someone else. Every time a parent puts their kid on a bus, they are saying to the City, ‘I trust you.’ No parent should have to worry about their child being left stranded at a bus stop.”

(Dov Gordon – YWN)