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CHICAGO (CBS) — The first day of classes for Chicago Public Schools (CPS) started with transportation troubles.
CPS vowed to prioritize transportation for special needs students, yet a number of parents tell CBS 2 they are dealing with late rides, no-shows and a lack of answers.
CBS 2’s Tim McNicholas reports from CPS headquarters as it was a hectic day for parents and staff.
The phones are certainly ringing on Monday with phone calls from parents with plenty of questions. Some are asking ‘how will my kid get to school?’
It was just 12 days ago that CPS said in a statement they would prioritize the busing of special needs students. But on Monday, CBS 2 spoke with two moms who both said CPS did not provide a bus for their kids and they’re still waiting on an answer on when that might be fixed.
One of them was told it was due to a clerical error that’s now fixed but it could now be up to two weeks before her daughter is on a route.
“The distance that I live to her school, that’s an eight mile transport on transportation. And I’d have to take four buses and a train to get there,” said CPS parent Kalaveeta Mitchell.
“I did think we may have a rough week, but I am concerned this is gonna go on longer than a week because I don’t know who they’re gonna find to transport him,” said CPS parent Laurie Viets.
Both parents said they were offered the monthly stipend of $500 from CPS to instead transport their kids to school themselves, but they told CPS they did not want that, they wanted a bus instead.
A couple weeks ago, CBS 2 asked CPS if a bus would be provided to parents who turned that down and instead wanted busing. A spokesperson said yes. Why that didn’t happen today? CPS has yet to respond.
Source: ChicagoCBS
