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ESE advisory urges clearer parental-review wording and a district bus-attendant curriculum for special-education routes
Summary
ESE advisory speakers praised passage of Policy 4,900 but warned it contains gaps, urged the board to require parental review language and to publish the bus-attendant training curriculum and completion data for attendants who work with exceptional student education (ESE) routes.
Advisors representing the district’s ESE (Exceptional Student Education) community told the School Board they support Policy 4,900 but still see gaps in required procedures and training for staff who work with students with disabilities.
An ESE advisory member, Luscomb, thanked the board for passing Policy 4,900 but said the policy still contains "holes." Luscomb urged a change to parental-record-review language that advisors said had been agreed should be mandatory. "You folks yourselves agreed that that should say must," Luscomb said, urging the board to adopt the stronger phrasing.
Luscomb also raised unanswered requests for the district’s bus-attendant curriculum for ESE routes and data showing how many attendants completed district training versus an "equivalent" training. In response, a district staff member read the transportation job description and training requirements, saying in part: "All personnel in this role are required to complete an initial comprehensive training program consisting of 40 to 50 hours." Luscomb replied that the posted job description did not answer her request for the actual BCPS bus-attendant curriculum and completion data. "That's a job description. What I've been asking for is that it actually states, in policy that successful completion of 40 hours of preservice... be required," she said.
ESE advisory members also asked that district policies explicitly clarify how they apply to students in contract schools (for example, certain pre‑K or specialized placements). Luscomb said contract-school students are still Broward County Public Schools students and should be covered by district policies.
Why it matters: Parental-review procedures and bus-attendant training affect how schools document and respond to incidents involving students with disabilities and how transportation staff are prepared to manage behavior and safety. Advisory members requested specific curriculum materials and completion rates so stakeholders can assess whether training standards are being met across the district.
Ending: District staff told the board they would follow up on the specific materials and data requests; the advisory said it will continue the issue into the new year and press for clear policy language and published training materials.
