Just Too Long on the Bus
November 24, 2008 by Kristina Chew, PhD
Filed under Schoolbus, new york
I mean, at least two hours each way, to school and then back home? That’s how long 5-year-old Brandon Montanez, who’s autistic, rides the bus to get from his home in Bensonhurst to Learning Springs School in Manhattan, according to yesterday’s WCBStv. Brandon’t bus ride used to be 90 minutes long each way—-already too long—-New York’s Office of Pupil Transportation changed his route (and his driver and bus matron) on short notice and, more than understandably, it hasn’t been easy for Brandon:
“It’s been a nightmare,” says Michelle Montanez, Brandon’s mother. “He was jumping on his seat, he was throwing off his seat belt, he told them that he wanted to scream and he wanted to do it. He started banging his head against the side of the bus and he’s been doing it every day since he’s been on this route. It’s too much for him, it’s too long.”
2 hours each ways is a long bus ride for any of us and not the way for any student to start a long day of learning.
Jeff Stimpson
Jill Cornfield