DPS Stops Layoffs of Bus Attendants for Special-Education Students (MI)

January 14, 2011

Detroit Public Schools emergency financial manager Robert Bobb backed off plans Thursday to lay off special-education bus attendants, one day before the layoffs were supposed to take effect.

It came after two busloads of parents and residents went to the State Board of Education meeting this week to complain about special-education problems in DPS.

"This is one fight that we shouldn’t have had to fight over," said Chris White, a parent and co-chairman of the Coalition to Restore Hope to DPS. "We need to maintain services to the students with the most need."

DPS had sent layoff notices this month to 88 of 175 bus attendants who help special-education students and students who use wheelchairs, ages 3-26. The cuts would have saved the district $2 million a year, according to DPS.

Bobb said last week that the district, saddled with a $327-million budget deficit, could afford to supply attendants for students whose individual education plan stipulated the need. Therefore, only half of the workers were needed.

DPS has about 7,000 special-education students who ride school buses daily, said Keith January, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 345. He said more than 1,200 parent requests for a bus attendant were delivered to sc hool officials in recent weeks.

On Thursday, Bobb verified that 185 DPS students require a bus attendant and said that as a result, DPS "will not proceed with any layoffs of bus attendants at this time to ensure that the district meets its obligation to safely transport all students, special-education and general education," according to a statement the district released Thursday.

Janice Tucker, whose 25-year-old son, Charles Hubbard-Wright, is a student with complex medical issues and equipment, was relieved.

"Hopefully, we won’t have to go through this again."