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South Kingstown parent says district repeatedly failed special‑education transportation; cites RIDE findings and consent order
Summary
At a South Kingstown School Committee meeting public‑comment period, parent Sean Kavanaugh described repeated transportation lapses for his twin daughters with autism, said Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE) found multiple regulatory violations, and urged the committee to enforce compliance and accountability.
Sean Kavanaugh, a Wakefield resident and parent of three South Kingstown students, used the school committee’s public‑comment period to sharply criticize the district’s handling of transportation for his twin daughters, who the committee was told are five years old and on the autism spectrum.
Kavanaugh said his daughters’ transportation problems began in September 2023 and continued into 2024. He told the committee that, based on limited GPS data he received from the district, his children missed “at least 26 and 3 quarters hours of school,” which he described as the equivalent of more than four school days.
The parent said he pursued a formal complaint with the Rhode Island Department of Education and that the district admitted violating state rules on multiple occasions. “I was able to get the district to admit that 21 separate times they had violated…
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