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Parents say special‑education students are getting fewer field‑trip options and riders report bus AC failures
Summary
Parents and staff at the June 11 board meeting said ESY (extended‑school‑year) and summer special‑education activities often provide lower‑support options such as bowling while general‑education students travel to parks; they also raised health and safety concerns about school buses running without air conditioning in 100+° weather.
Multiple parents and district staff told the Coachella Valley Unified board that some special‑education students are receiving different, lower‑support summer experiences and that the district must do more to provide equivalent options and accommodations.
“ Inclusion means providing access to the same opportunities whenever possible and making reasonable accommodations so that all students can participate,” parent Daisy (speaking in the ESY comment period) told trustees. “My sons don’t enjoy bowling. They want the same activities their peers have.”
Speakers described solutions they say were proposed at the site level — shorter schedules, more frequent stops, parental volunteers and one‑on‑one supports — and urged the district to use those tools rather than defaulting to lower‑support field trips. Parents said some site administrators told them logistics or transportation constraints were the reason for the differences.
Several commenters also described unsafe conditions on buses during hot weather. Lorraine Salis and other speakers said buses without working air conditioning exposed students and staff to dangerously high temperatures on long routes and asked the newly appointed transportation director to prioritize repairs and vehicle replacement where needed.
Trustees and district staff acknowledged the concerns. Trustees asked staff to clarify whether field‑trip planning had properly considered 504/IEP accommodations and whether parents who offered to help chaperone had been consulted. The board asked the district to report back about transportation maintenance logs, route constraints and whether existing vendor or mechanic capacity can be expanded.
What happens next: Trustees requested a follow‑up from Ed Services and Transportation staff describing how ESY field trips will be planned to meet IEP needs, the district’s capacity for providing one‑to‑one or supplemental adult assistance on trips, and a status report on bus air‑conditioning repairs and replacement needs.
