School bus problems for Sachem, other special education students
Sachem school officials apologized to parents over bussing issues this week. Credit: James Carbone
Dyanne Laiosa expected the bus to arrive on the first day of school Wednesday outside her Baldwin home to take her special needs son to school in Bellport. But hours passed and the bus never showed up — and it didn't all week.
Parents in Sachem also experienced busing issues this week, according to district officials. School started in the Suffolk County district Wednesday.
The issue in both cases is with WE Transport, a Plainview-based company that contracts to provide pupil transportation. The company did not return phone calls or emails for comment Friday.
In Sachem, school officials apologized to parents about busing issues there. The routes affected transport the district's special education students.
School officials said Friday that the number of impacted routes was reduced, and "while it has impacted less than 10% of our student population it unfortunately affects our most vulnerable population." Sachem is one of the Island's largest school districts, with an enrollment of about 11,900 students.
Sachem Superintendent Christopher Pellettieri wrote in an email to parents Thursday that “at the end of the day this needs to be made right and our kids need safe and timely transportation to and from our schools. We will continue to work alongside the bus company to get this right.”
According to the email from Sachem, there were three WE Transport officials in the district to troubleshoot issues there, and they were “going route by route to ensure we have all of our transportation issues resolved as quickly as possible.
“ … After this is resolved and all our routes are back on track, we will take what happened apart day by day week by week until we get to the heart of what took place in order to ensure it doesn’t happen again,” Pellettieri wrote. “On behalf of the district, I apologize for what has taken place.”
In Baldwin, Laiosa’s son, Michael, 17, attends school at Bellport Academic Center, operated by Eastern Suffolk BOCES. Her home district, Baldwin, contracts with WE Transport for his busing.
The bus didn’t come Wednesday or through the rest of the week, and she was told it might not be able to drive him to school until the middle of this coming week.
“He is missing his whole first week of school,” she said. “It’s a far drive for me — it’s two hours round trip and I work full time.”
She said school district officials have been helpful, but she has been unable to reach anyone at WE Transport. She said the same company transported him to the summer program in Bellport, and there were no problems. But for now, “It’s difficult, and I don’t know where I stand with anyone,” she said.
Joie Tyrrell is a Long Island native and covers education for Newsday, where she has worked since 1998.
