Hundreds Of Misconduct Claims Made Against NYC School Bus Workers

NEW YORK — Parents lodged hundreds of misconduct accusations against New York City school bus workers in the first six months of this year, a new report on the city's troubled busing system shows.

Department of Education investigators probed 357 allegations of wrongdoing against bus drivers and attendants employed by private operators from January to June, according to data the agency submitted to the City Council Thursday.

But only 32 — or about 9 percent — of those claims were substantiated, meaning investigators found sufficient evidence to support the allegations, the education department says. Most of the accusations were either unsubstantiated or resulted in "no further action," the figures show.

"Last year, we streamlined the fingerprinting and background check processes, as well as all investigations of bus driver or attendant misconduct," education department spokesperson Miranda Barbot said in an email. "We take these investigations seriously, and all drivers and attendants are now subject to the same investigation procedures as staff across the (department)."

Some 21 of the substantiated allegations involved bus staff failing to supervise students, according to the report. Six were accusations of corporal punishment, four involved verbal abuse and one involved a worker's "failure to report," the figures show.

The allegations were among more than 3,000 complaints parents logged with the education department's Office of Pupil Transportation in those six months, a number that also includes reports of delayed buses, a bus company's failure to answer the phone and other problems, the department said. The city buses about 150,000 kids to and from school each day on roughly 9,000 routes run by private bus operators.

The transportation office refers misconduct allegations to the Office of Special Investigations, which examines such complaints, education officials say. Multiple allegations can stem from a single incident, and any worker found responsible can be fired, suspended or fined, the education department said.

The Office of Special Investigations was still examining 90 allegations by the time the reporting period ended in June, the agency said. Four allegations were referred to other authorities, and two of them led to findings of "poor judgment," according to the department's report.

The misconduct figures were among dozens of data points in the Department of Education's first reports to the City Council under a package of laws meant to improve the city's beleaguered school bus service.

The agency logged more than 58,500 school bus breakdowns and delays in the six-month period, the figures show. The number of breakdowns and delays has jumped 73 percent to more than 109,000 last school year from 63,184 in the 2015-16 year, the New York Daily News has reported.

The Department of Education says it has installed GPS technology on all school buses and plans to roll out a new location system that cannot be turned off by this January. That's also when the agency plans to start testing tablet devices that will let officials and parents track bus locations in real time through a partnership with the ride-hailing company Via, officials said.

"The pilot will allow us to gather feedback from families, schools, and bus companies before expanding to the entire fleet," Barbot said. "Students deserve the shortest commutes possible to and from school."