all good tips from folks here.

remember if just calling it to their attention doesn't work and you feel an IEP amendment is in order you do not have to wait for the next IEP. As parent you have the right to call an IEP meeting at any time for any reason. You can call one to deal with just ONE issue or to amend one segment of the iep.

with bus issues in the past I've found that calling the special ed administration gets me referred to the person whose role is to liason with the bus company about transportation and that issues are generally resolved touts uite. Good communication and a little patience are essential.


Our transportation policy doesn't allow a student to routinely be on the bus for over an hour and they get really panickky (now) if exigent circumstances result in a long trip. But I do remember them taking two hours to get my son home several times one year because they were short a driver and dispatch looked at the routes and saw "8 kids" assigned to two buses and just combined those 8 with the driver who was there. They didnt' consider how many were w/c users or took more time because of behavioural needs and the fact that the routes carried them to all corners of the county. They just needed to be informed by me and the sped liasson why the ride was so long and why that was unacceptable to go "oh". and fix it.

Hopefully all it will take is a conversation between you and the sped departmetn to get it taken care of. But if you find nothing happens very quickly have another conversation and back it up with a written letter documenting the 2 conversations and that you expect them to resolve the problem.

Another thing is the flies-with honey approach you are taking is in my opinion usually most helpful. Remember that transporting ALL those kids to all those schools is a huge job (I wouldn't want that head ache) and EVERY year there are bugs to work out during the first couple of weeks for both regular ed and special ed kids. THere's always a snarl the first few days with the regular routes.