CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Two months after the start of the school year, thousands of Chicago Public School students still don’t have bus service; most of them special education students.
The head of CPS Transportation Services, Kimberly Jones, updated the school board on the situation.
"What this chart reflects is our total population of students who qualify for student transportation services, which is approximately 16,000. Of that, 12,470 are receiving services to day. We currently have 3,800 students that are without services, with 2,300 being diverse learners; 97 percent of those students are attending school today," Jones said.
The other three percent, 107 students, have not returned to school. According to CPS, 96 of them are in special education.
Some students are taking cabs to school on taxpayers’ dime.
"Transportation continues to move full-speed ahead with our recruitment efforts, leaving no stone unturned with our efforts to provide transportation to our students to and from school. We've already began to use alternative modes of transportation, starting with taxi cabs," Jones said.
Jones said there are other alternatives that will get more kids to school next week, and its expected there will be 80 new bus drivers by the end of November.
Related
