Tag Archives: special needs transportation

March 1, 2012

Crappy Transportation Company – Finger Lickin’ Good Times

This is PART THREE in a gripping saga about Crappy Transportation Company. If you are new to the story, please read THIS, then THIS. Thanks.

So.

After using an empty, greasy Dunkin Donuts bag to smoosh away the CHICKEN BONES from under RM’s seat and then securing her tightly in the safety straps, I kissed her and squeezed her and said, “Have a great day at school, Beautiful.” I closed the van door, said a rapid Rosary and waved goodbye. At this point, Mom-Alarm was not completely triggered where I felt the need to start a complete melt-down by ripping RM from the van. She would not have been agreeable to that scenario. I felt it was best to rock on and let her go, knowing it was Game On with Crappy Transportation Company.

I crossed the street as the van pulled away to tell SGM what I found. He had pulled out of our driveway to head to work, but had stopped at the neighbor’s for a brief moment of male bonding. All I had to say to him was, “CHICKEN. BONES.” He knew instantly by the look on my face that this transportation bullshit was about to come to an apex of sort.

As I walked back over to the house to start the ball rolling on that, SGM headed off to work.

Hang on to your panties. It gets better.

SGM called me about an hour later after he reached the armory. “Um. You’ve notified SpedHead, right? About the CHICKEN. BONES. Right??”

“Oh, you know it. Why? What’s up?”

“Well, after I pulled away I ended up behind the van at the light and. Um. Well. Chicken Lady was not paying attention. AT. ALL. The light turned green and the car in between us had to honk to get her to move and it looked like people were moving around inside the van. So I followed them for a ways, and Chicken Lady missed the green at three more lights. She just was not paying attention at all. Then it looked like there were bags being passed back and forth. It was ALL. WRONG.”

I hung up with SGM. There were no words to describe my rage. I had already informed the school and the Assistant SpedHead that I would be driving RM until the entirety of this situation was resolved at the meeting the following Monday. There simply was nothing else I could do but wait until then.

Because it is never easy dealing with these schmucks, they scheduled the meeting for Monday afternoon at the exact time that RM and Boyfriend needed to be picked up at school BECAUSE THEY HAD NO TRANSPORTATION. So it meant that out of the four of us parents, one needed to miss the meeting in order to pick up the kiddos. I volunteered to get the kids. I felt that SGM and Boyfriend’s parents who have dealt with our district for several years had the most to offer up. I also didn’t think we could scrape together my bail money should Crappy Transportation Company say some crazy shit at this meeting.

In the end, Crappy Transportation Company never showed to the meeting. Interim Superintendent was extremely reasonable and made it clear that all of our concerns were valid and this was an easy fix in his eyes. You think? The district would inform Crappy Transportation Company to reinstate Miss Wonderful as monitor, New Driver would be the same woman who previously served as Boyfriend’s monitor before RM was on the route (yay!) and we would get the yellow van back and the afternoon route would accommodate dropping off RM before Boyfriend.

Problem solved.

RM and Boyfriend are happily riding to school together again.

It only took twelve adults fourteen days to do it.

Cheers, My Friends.

I’m headed out for some wings.

6 comments | tags: advocacy, autism, IEP, special education, special needs, special needs transportation | posted in Uncategorized

March 1, 2012

Crappy Transportation Company – Part Deux

By Rachel Kenyon

If you’re just joining us, please read yesterday’s post HERE. After that first email I sent to SpedHead on Tuesday, February 21, I received an unusually speedy response that afternoon from her that she would be looking into the matter and that all emails would indeed be entered into RM’s school file.

Up to this point, I had been prepared for a few snags in getting this new transportation scenario straightened out but I hadn’t worried for RM’s safety – yet. The next morning, the same van arrived to take RM to AWESOME AUTISM SCHOOL as I expected. But what blew my mind was what I found when I opened the side door to put RM in her seat.

*****

Good morning, SpedHead

I am beyond words.

RM’s van arrived this morning with the same Nameless Driver and Nameless Monitor. But instead of the driver’s granddaughter, now there was a boy between 10- and 12-years-old in pajamas holding a full breakfast in his hands sitting in an open seat where yesterday held Boyfriend’s car seat. As I placed RM into what I thought was the same car seat she rode in yesterday (that I struggled to readjust for her yesterday), I found that the seat had been readjusted once more and no longer fit her properly – again. As Nameless Preteen Boy moved to the back, Nameless Monitor pulled Boyfriend’s car seat out of the back row to make room for Nameless Preteen Boy and placed the car seat where Boyfriend sat yesterday. But the seat looked more like it was set to fit RM. As I was attempting to strap RM in and fix the seat height on the other side, I looked down to see half-eaten food on the van floor – to include the bony remains of a chicken wing.

[I pause here mid-email to say to my readers – WTF? CHICKEN. BONES.]

There was a ton of trash around the floor and a receipt of some kind tucked into the side of RM’s car seat cushion. RM still mouths things and is still very much at risk for choking. Not only am I disgusted by the condition of the van but I am reeling from the lack of safety regarding properly maintaining RM’s car seat and leaving chokables within easy reach of her.

I will be picking RM up from AWESOME AUTISM SCHOOL this afternoon, but I expect these issues resolved. Please notify me when there has been an appropriate transportation plan put into place for RM.

Once again, SGM and I request that this email become a permanent part of RM’s school file.

Thank you, SpedHead –

Rachel

I will now refer to Nameless Driver as ‘Chicken Lady’. Mkay?

*****

Here’s the next volley by the BOE:

Good afternoon Mrs. Kenyon,

I am writing in response to your request for a meeting this coming Friday in regards to concerns with RM’s transportation.

After reviewing the emails the transportation concerns are:

staff changes
vehicle changes
car seats
bus route

Please let me know if there are any other transportation related issues you wish to discuss.

Thank you in advance,

Assistant SpedHead

*****

By now, I am just annoyed.

Hi, Assistant SpedHead,

Thanks for getting back to us.

You have included all of our concerns regarding transportation. We’d like to note in advance that should Crappy Transportation Company choose to reinstate the same monitor, Miss Wonderful, that would be a step in the right direction. Not only would it give RM and Boyfriend some stability in the process, but she is a phenomenal young woman who has taken a lot of initiative in understanding what works for the kids. Outside of that, her presence on the route provides a measure of relief in the area of liability for both that of the district and Crappy Transportation Company. We trust her. She is knowledgeable and on top of things like proper seating, safety and van behavior.

Thank you,

Rachel

*****

Here’s the district’s attempt to squirm out of a face-to-face meeting with us and Boyfriend’s parents.

Good Morning SGM and Mrs. Kenyon,

In regards to transportation related concerns which arose this past week, the following updated information is being provided:

1. Staff changes- As of Monday February 27^th, the driver assigned to the route will be Another Stranger. The monitor, Miss Wonderful, will be back on this route as previously assigned.

2. Vehicle changes- The yellow van that was typically used for this route was in for scheduled maintenance, necessitating a change in the vehicle. The original bus is scheduled to be back in service on Monday February 27^th.

3. Car seats- The car seats (APEX 6500) that have been being used will be back in the vehicle for Monday February 27^th.

4. Bus route- The bus route is determined by the location of the student’s home to provide for efficiency.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions and/or concerns.

Respectfully,

Assistant SpedHead

*****

No. You’re not getting out of this meeting, Lady. (I should note that Assistant SpedHead was RM’s in-district Speech Pathologist for nearly two years, who also fought us for 14 months that RM even had ‘autism’.)

Hi, Assistant SpedHead,

This is a good starting point for the discussion on Monday at 2pm.

Please advise Crappy Transportation Company that we will not be putting RM on the van on Monday the 27^th pending working out the remaining details of the plan to move forward.

It is a great step in the right direction by reinstating Miss Wonderful as the monitor for our route. However, if the proposed driver is Chicken Lady that drove RM at the beginning of this week, then that is not an option. SGM would be happy to describe in more detail at the meeting what he witnessed while following the vehicle with RM on board. It goes well beyond the cleanliness of the vehicle.

We look forward to meeting with everyone on Monday.

Enjoy your weekend, Assistant SpedHead.

Thanks,

Rachel

*****

TUNE IN TOMORROW TO HEAR WHAT SGM WITNESSED CHICKEN LADY DOING AS HE FOLLOWED THE VAN… AND READ THE EXCITING CONCLUSION TO THE ‘CRAPPY TRANSPORTATION COMPANY’ SAGA.

4 comments | tags: autism, IEP, special education, special needs, special needs transportation | posted in Uncategorized

February 29, 2012

Crappy Transportation Company

By Rachel Kenyon

Last summer, I wrote about RM’s safety seat drama with Crappy Transportation Company to her outplacement AMAZING AUTISM SCHOOL. The seat issue was resolved. I’d love to tell you that after those painful dealings, the company stopped being a bunch of assholes and realized that we weren’t messing around. Not so much.

The following email was Round Three with Crappy Transportation Company via this note to our district SpedHead last week:

Dear SpedHead,

On Thursday afternoon, February 16^th, 2012, our driver Mr. Awesome informed us that he had accepted a new position elsewhere and was planning to give Crappy Transportation Company his official two-week notice the following morning. This was very sad news for us, as Mr. Awesome was an amazing gift to us. He worked to get to know RM and the other children on the van, and he took his responsibility to our children very personally. We were angered, yet not surprised, to be told on Friday that Mr. Awesome was fired on the spot and that he would not be allowed to finish out his two weeks of notice. We were never contacted by Crappy Transportation Company, and still have not received any notice concerning who will be taking over the route, or what other changes will be made. Instead, this morning our daughter walked out the door to a white Caravan and was presented with three complete strangers in this tiny, new vehicle that seated six – a new driver, monitor, and the driver’s granddaughter. For ten months prior, she had been riding in a yellow 10-passenger full-sized van with Mr. Awesome and Miss Wonderful the monitor. I am sure you can recognize the sheer sensory attack such a huge change in vehicle alone would bring to a child like RM, but to also change every other aspect of her transportation without warning is just cruel. The car seats for RM and her boyfriend were not labeled (they are identical, yet adjusted to different settings) and RM’s piddle-pad that I had purchased had not been transferred from the other van. Also, the previous route included two other children. Are they no longer riding this route? I can tell you, SpedHead, that we already had concerns about all four children on the same larger van due to the age and size of the other boys. I certainly cannot imagine them being squeezed into this new, tiny van with two smaller children like RM and Boyfriend. Again, it is completely unacceptable that we have not been given so much as names for the new driver and monitor, let alone we still have not been contacted by Crappy Transportation Company to discuss any of these changes.

On top of all of this stress for RM today, Crappy Transportation Company neglected to advise the new driver of the specific route requirement for the afternoon – that RM be dropped off prior to Boyfriend. This was a negotiated change from last April, that was determined rather quickly as RM was unable to handle arriving at Boyfriend’s house on the way home from school because she associated it with a playdate there, whereas Boyfriend was comfortable with the van arriving at our house and then proceeding to his. Today, RM was screaming, kicking in tears in Boyfriend’s driveway and the new driver had no idea that taking the route in reverse even mattered. No one at Crappy Transportation Company had informed her, and certainly relieving Mr. Awesome of his duties in the manner that he was, left no way for him to relay that information.

Our relationship with Crappy Transportation Company administration, namely Candy, The Manager I Would Love to Meet in a Dark Alley, has not been a smooth one. We have had issues previously over seemingly simple things like car seats and advanced notice of route changes. Soon after RM started at AMAZING AUTISM SCHOOL and my repeated requests for an appropriate car seat for her went unanswered, I found that she had been riding in a toddler seat too small for her size that was THIRTEEN years old. SGM and I disposed of the seat as that was the only way to get Candy, The Manager I Would Love to Meet in a Dark Alley to replace it. She was belligerent on the telephone and implied that a safety seat was not her responsibility, it belonged to the district. Yet when I asked other members of the office at Crappy Transportation Company about seats that StimCity BOE had provided, they responded that brand-new larger boosters were provided but Candy, The Manager I Would Love to Meet in a Dark Alley was unwilling to unwrap them and allow the children to use them. That situation was eventually resolved. Again in August of last year, Candy, The Manager I Would Love to Meet in a Dark Alley made difficulties for the families on the van by changing monitors without prior notice. As you are aware, children with autism do not handle changes to their routine well at all. It was yet another battle with Candy, The Manager I Would Love to Meet in a Dark Alley to reason with her, and in the process a substitute monitor who by all means seemed pleasant and dutiful, was fired and then reinstated the following day.

This kind of turmoil in transportation is troubling. We expect a level of professionalism and care in the service of our child, and you should know that Crappy Transportation Company administration has not delivered. This is a true shame, since Mr. Awesome was a wonderful addition, highly overqualified, and left only for reasons that relate to the treatment by Candy, The Manager I Would Love to Meet in a Dark Alley.

We want to continue to keep the lines of communication open, SpedHead, and the bottom line here is that Crappy Transportation Company is not keeping our family informed, recognizing the needs of the child, nor are they conducting themselves in a manner that is becoming of a company dedicated to special needs transportation.

We ask that you follow up with Crappy Transportation Company and that we are informed of the plan going forward.

SGM and I request that this email become a permanent part of RM’s school file.

Thank you, SpedHead–

Rachel

TO BE CONTINUED…

7 comments | tags: 4q deletion, autism, IEP, special education, special needs, special needs transportation | posted in Uncategorized

July 14, 2011

Shorted on the Short Bus

By Rachel Kenyon

Listen. Autism involves a lot of urinary incontinence, poop-flinging and sometimes it’s just plain old messy.

I know this will sound crazy but I was blessed by a puddle of pee yesterday and I am praying you will read this and receive the good juju from it as well.

RM has been potty-training at school for the last month or so and has found a great deal of success. However, toileting is a long process for many of our kids with autism so RM wears underwear during the school day but wears a pull-up to prevent accidents while she is riding the van back and forth.

The other day RM came home from school completely soaked. She had left school in underwear instead of a pull-up. A minor oversight. Nothing to freak out over.

I sent a text message to the van monitor and asked her to check the car seat to see if it was wet. It was. The van came back by and I grabbed the car seat out of the back so that I could wash the cover before school the next morning.

By the time the van pulled away again I was shaking. I had turned the seat over to take off the cover and on the label found the manufacture date – 1998! My child had been riding in a car seat that was several years past expiration. Did you know car seats expire? AND I learned that my daughter was TEN pounds and FOUR inches over its limit. I. WAS. PISSED.

I called the transportation company and spoke to “Candy”, the manager. I had previously spoken to her about a proper child safety seat for RM way back in April, a week before she started at her current school. I had given this woman RM’s height and weight and advised her that RM needed a 5-point-harness seat rated for up to at least 65 pounds. She said, ‘Absolutely’.

Pay close attention to what I am about to admit to, because I pray no one else falls into this trap themselves.

From the first day the van arrived to take my child to school, more than 15 miles away through three towns and over two major highways, I had my doubts that the seat RM was riding in was the right one for her. But I said nothing to the company about the seat she was given because I wanted to start off on a good foot and build a peaceful relationship with the folks transporting my baby every day. DO NOT MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE.

Any persons responsible for transporting your child to and from school MUST follow all child safety seat regulations. The seat must be the proper type, size and rated specifically to meet the weight and height of your child. If your child is over 40 pounds and 40 inches tall – they MUST be provided a larger convertible seat (most this size can be used with a 5-point harness up to weights of 65-80 pounds or as a belt-positioning booster up to 100 pounds). EVERY SEAT has a label usually underneath or along the side that lists the date of manufacture, the expiration date (usually about 6 years) and the weight and height limits. All seats and vehicles being used to transport students should be equipped with the LATCH system.

PLEASE! Check your child’s seating on school transportation and ALWAYS remain aware of the child safety seats you use in your own vehicles. Does your child still meet the weight and height requirements? Is your seat installed properly? Are you securing the buckles and chest straps in the correct position?

If you are unsure of the child safety seat being used for your child, contact your local police department. Most departments have at least one member dedicated to performing child safety seat inspections and you can request a free inspection not only for your personal vehicle, but for your child’s school transportation as well.

Do not take for granted that your child is being properly secured in an appropriate child safety seat.

I am so grateful for that puddle of pee.

Cheers,

Rachel

[Ed note: I failed to mention that after I ripped "Candy" a new one, I nearly choked when she spoke of her intent to 'dispose of the seat when it is returned'. NO WAY, LADY. The good SGM has already said he will be splitting that 13-year-old seat right down the middle and throwing that piece of crap in the garbage himself. I shudder to think of the child it would have been used with next. No way.]