District cancels plan to lay off 88 school bus attendants
Detroit Public Schools officials decide not to proceed with the layoffs after two busloads of parents attend a state board of education meeting to complain about special-education problems in the district.
DETROIT — The day before 88 layoffs of school bus attendants were scheduled to take place, Detroit Public Schools (DPS) officials decided not to proceed with the dismissals.
The change came after two busloads of parents attended a state board of education meeting to complain about special-education problems in the district.
was in response to complaints made by parents about the district's special-needs program at a recent state board of education meeting.
The layoffs would have left DPS with 87 bus attendants to serve special-needs students on 114 bus routes, the Detroit Free Press reports. The district serves approximately 15,000 special-needs students; almost half of those students take a bus to and from school.
Last month, DPS emergency financial manager Robert Bobb confirmed to the newspaper that 185 students required a bus attendant as part of their IEPs.
Moreover, Keith January, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 345, said that more than 1,200 parent requests for a bus attendant were delivered to school officials in recent weeks.
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