Monday, June 30, 2008

School Bus Service Coming for Some Roosevelt Island Children

Image of Otto, the Simpson's school Bus Driver from Wired

Received the following good news from City Council Member Jessica Lappin's office. Council Member Lappin has helped obtain school bus service for some Roosevelt Island children.
In response to a request from Council Member Jessica Lappin, the Department of Education has reversed its position of refusing to assign a school bus route to Roosevelt Island for students who attend schools in Manhattan.

On behalf of several constituents who had contacted the Council Member’s office, Lappin wrote a letter to Deputy Chancellor Kathleen Grimm in which she laid out the overcrowded transportation situation on Roosevelt Island and urged the DOE to create a bus route for the Island. In her June 24 response, Deputy Chancellor Grimm wrote that the DOE intended to do just that.

The Deputy Chancellor wrote that while bus service may not be available to all Island children attending public schools elsewhere, certain District 2 schools like Lower Lab that have more than the minimum number of students needed to create new service will be getting a bus stop in the coming year.

“I want to commend the Department of Education for doing what is right for Roosevelt Island,” Council Member Lappin said. “Especially with the tram expected to be out of service for long periods of time over the coming year, school bus service will provide needed transportation for children who attend school in Manhattan. I’m glad that I was able to play a part in making school bus service a reality.”
Below is Councilmember Lappin's letter to Department of Education
Read this document on Scribd: Lappin letter re RI busing 5 13 08-1

And the letter in response from DOE

Read this document on Scribd: DOE Letter re RI busing 6 24 08

Image of Council Member Jessica Lappin

Good job by Council Member Lappin in obtaining a much needed service for Roosevelt Island children and their parents. Gothamist has more on last year's school routing problems.

28 comments :

RI 360 said...

My apologies as my employer blocks my access to the linked documents so I am unable to view them and my comment may cover an item addressed in either letter.

I recall a few of the issues that arose with school buses is the pickup points and the effect on the issuance of school metro cards if a bus is provided. I have kids that also attend public schools off island.

If a bus was provided for a pickup point on the manhattan side of the Tram the BOE was going to pull the metro cards as they had stated the kids only get one or the other.

A second related issue was whether parents could opt out of the bus and their child could retain the issued metro card. Many parents were also concerned about how much added time the bus woud add to the commute if the route began on Roosevelt Island and travelled over the 59th Street / Queensboro Bridge.

Again I apologize if these issues were addressed in either letter.

Lastly does the DOE response leave open or create a set of standards that would be applied to other District 2 public schools regarding the number of students needed and the effect on that school's budget? Some school principals were concerned that the added cost would be deducted from their school's budget where they hoped the cost would be borne directly by the DOE / Office of pupil Transportation.

Anonymous said...
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ROOSEVELT ISLANDER said...

360, Excellent Points. The letters between DOE and Council Member Lappin did not address these issues. I forwarded your questions on to her office and hope to have a reply soon.

Anonymous said...

Best news ever! According to the admission office at Lower Lab there are around 15 kids from Roosevelt Island that will attend Lower Lab next year. I am really glad we are getting a bus now. This makes things so much easier.

I was always miffed by the idea that we could get a bus on the Manhattan side but we would still have to purchase a Metro card just to get the child across the river. That just means that RI children were never able to get free transportation to school.

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