A city investigation published Thursday found a yellow bus carrying six nonverbal autistic students in Brooklyn was lost for more than four hours on the way to school last year while a panicked group of parents and school officials struggled to locate the children.<\/p>\n
The report by the Special Commissioner of Investigation, a watchdog agency for the city\u2019s public schools, said a bus operated by Consolidated Bus Transit was scheduled to arrive at a Brooklyn elementary school before 9 a.m. on Dec. 16, but did not show up until 1:25 p.m. that day.<\/p>\n
Parents tried to track the bus\u2019s winding route via AirTags placed in their children\u2019s backpacks while school staff struggled to reach the bus company, the investigation found. When the bus of 6- to 8-year-olds did arrive, one student was lying in a pool of urine, according to the report.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the latest in a string of incidents that have parents and regulators calling for urgent reforms to the city\u2019s dysfunctional school bus system. While the majority of New York\u2019s students walk, drive or take public transit to school, about 155,000 rely on yellow buses. Half of those using the buses have disabilities.<\/p>\n