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.

A school bus driver in West Ashley (SC) is accused of striking an 11-year-old autistic boy who was getting on the bus, today’s Post and Courier reports. The alleged incident occurred on September 11. According to a police report, a school employee saw the child hit the child with his hands “after the child was being uncooperative while getting on the bus.” The driver has been suspended without pay. From the Post and Courier:

The officer wrote in his report that he interviewed the child and did not observe any signs of abuse. He also spoke with the child’s teacher, who said she had not observed any signs of abuse or abnormal behavior, the report said.

“It should be noted that (the child) suffers from autism,” the officer wrote.

The boy’s family declined to comment.

But I’m wondering how well the child might have been able to respond to a police officer’s questions? And perhaps the child might have a delayed reaction to the incident, and not be able to communicate this readily?

Not again: This past Tuesday, an 8-year-old autistic boy, Devin Slaney, was “misplaced” on a school bus that was to bring him home following his first day of summer school in Edmonds, Washington, HeraldNet reports. Said his mother, Rebecca Slaney: “‘I understand accidents happen. Buses get into accidents, but they cannot lose children.’”

The driver of a minivan taking a 9-year-old autistic boy, Justin Colon, to summer camp got lost for four hours and failed to bring the child to his program. When Justin’s mother, Dawn Gorman, contacted the bus driver by cell phone, the driver was unable to say where he was and stopped answering the phone after awhile. Gorman then called the police, as reported in today’s Asbury Park Press:

Capt. Bruce Hall of the Marlboro Police Department, said one of his officers spotted the vehicle a mile or so from the camp facility and brought the child to the police department. The driver, who had an unauthorized person — a friend — with him in the minivan, said he was lost for that period of time, Hall said.

Gorman refused to send her child with the same transportation company — Severe Transportation — although the company sent a new driver on Tuesday.

She said the Harbor Haven school in Marlboro, which conducts the summer camp, contacted her and offered to pick up and drop off her son so she could get reliable transportation.

The school told her not to worry about the cost and that they would wait to see if the Edison school district would pay for it, she said.

Bill Muzzio, transportation director for the Edison school district, said the board terminated the contract with Severe Transportation for the run to the Marlboro campsite and initiated a new contract with Harbor Haven on Tuesday. The board is still using Severe Transportation for other runs.

As of Tuesday evening, Gorman was still not sure if she would send her child in the school transportation service or keep him home.

“It’s a very difficult situation after what I’ve been through,” she said.

I’m pretty sure my son would have been upset to find himself on a bus (and not his usual schoolbus) after one hour, but four hours? And Charlie would have been quite aware that the driver was lost. Am grateful he has summer school in district, with a bus from the county’s education commission.

Another story that has “you never can be too careful” written all over it.

School van driver Israel Santiago accused of raping 12-year-old autistic girl in Brookline, Massachusetts.

School bus driver Danny Floyd of Moorpark (CA) was arrested on May 7th on the suspicion of molesting a 14-year-old autistic boy, the Ventura County Star reports. Floyd and the boy were paired through the Big Brothers Big Sisters of America and have known each other since November; the molestation is alleged to have occurred between March 1 and May 5. Bail for Floyd has been set for $250,000.

As the mother of a minimally verbal autistic boy who has just entered puberty…………I can’t be too careful.