Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the School Transportation topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Council orders hearing into BPS bus hiring, training after 5-year-old's death
Summary
The Boston City Council referred an order for an oversight hearing into Boston Public Schools’ bus hiring, training and certification after the death of a 5-year-old; councilors cited reports that a driver involved had prior collisions and an expired certification and said the system that transports about 22,000 students must be reviewed.
Councilor Ed Flynn and Councilor Erin Murphy asked the Boston City Council on Wednesday to hold a formal hearing into hiring, training and compliance for Boston Public Schools bus drivers after the recent death of a 5-year-old child.
The petition, filed as docket 1101, requests an oversight hearing focused on the contractor Transdev, the school department’s screening, training, certification and supervision of drivers, and the city’s incident-reporting systems.
Flynn said the call for review “underscores the urgent need to conduct a thorough review of the hiring and monitoring practices used by Transdev,” noting that “the Boston Public School System provides daily transportation to approximately 22,000 students.”
Murphy tied the request directly to early reports about the fatal crash. “If the reports that we're hearing are true, he had already been involved in collisions that very day and was operating with an expired driving certification,” Murphy said, calling the situation “a systemic failure” that requires examination rather than immediate assignment of blame.
Other councilors representing the neighborhood where the crash occurred said they were coordinating with the family and emphasized the need to hear from the company that operates the school buses. Councilor Ben (Benton) said the district is “mourn[ing] the passing” of the child and that the community seeks answers from Transdev and city officials.
Action: the council referred docket 1101 to the Committee on Education for a hearing. Council members who signed onto the order include Flynn and Murphy; the clerk recorded additional cosponsors at the meeting.
Why it matters: Boston Public Schools transports tens of thousands of students daily. Councilors said the hearing will seek to determine whether screening, training, certification, supervision or reporting failures contributed to the death and what reforms can prevent future tragedies.
What to expect next: The Committee on Education will schedule the hearing and summon Boston Public Schools officials, Transdev representatives and other relevant parties to testify and provide documents on hiring, training, certifications, incident reporting and oversight.
