CHICAGO (CBS) — Kids wake up at 5:30 a.m. to board a school bus; Chicago leaders and parents say this is the reality for some magnet and selective enrollment students.
Others don’t even have the opportunity to ride the bus.
Before the 2023-2024 school year, amid a school bus driver shortage that has persisted since the COVID-19 pandemic, Chicago Public Schools eliminated guaranteed bus transportation for general education students and made school buses available only to students with disabilities and students who were homeless.
Parent activists and several Chicago aldermen are demanding bus service be restored for magnet and selective enrollment students who attend schools outside their neighborhoods. They spoke out Tuesday before a private meeting with some members of the Chicago Board of Education.
“We were founded last year, right after CPS suspended busing for students just three weeks before the start of school, leaving families stranded,” said Erin Schubert of CPS Parents for Buses.
“Our children need to go to our public schools, and in order for our magnet students to do that, they need access to buses, and they need it now,” said Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35th) said.
Chicago Public Schools officials responded that they now have the highest number of drivers since the pandemic began.
The district said it will also launch a “Hub Stop Pilot Program” on Monday, which will offer school bus rides to some general education students who attend magnet or selective enrollment elementary schools and who qualify for school buses. CPS plans to add additional pickup and drop-off locations and students throughout the year as capacity allows.
“District leaders sympathize and are acutely aware of the logistical challenges, from long commute times to disrupted family and work schedules, for the families of those students who have been without yellow school bus transportation from the district in recent years and that is why our leaders have never stopped exploring all possible solutions,” a CPS spokesperson said in an email
