Last week, I came across this story about a New Jersey student with disabilities who was accidentally strangled to death on her school bus.

“In the last minutes of her life, 6-year-old Fajr Williams flailed her arms and legs, shrieked or gasped twice and kicked the window of her school bus.”

Apparently, the bus aide was wearing ear buds and was too preoccupied with her cell phone to realize the child was dying.

Both my sons have ridden on small buses dedicated to special education students. Like Fajr, Benjamin rode in a wheelchair. Benjamin’s wheelchairs have some kind of chest harness that secures him to the wheelchair. There are also four points where the wheelchair gets tied down to the floor of the bus. Additionally, for students in New Jersey, there is supposed to be “a lap and shoulder belt that integrates to the rear wheelchair restraints…”

I am not clear as to what part of the restraint system used on Fajr Williams caused her to be strangled, but I can tell you that transportation has always been a nightmare inducing system for every special needs parent I know. In an Individualized Education Program, transportation is considered a related service. While a parent can request medical accommodations, many don’t know what to ask for because the federal law that gives a child with disabilities the right to a free and appropriate public education is vague on this point. 

Here are a few examples of accommodations Benjamin received:

A wheelchair accessible van: This is an obvious accommodation.

A climate controlled van: Benjamin doesn’t regulate his temperature well and needed heat and air conditioning.

A 30 minute time limit: The law doesn’t specify how long a student can be on a bus. Once when I complained about an unusually long bus ride, the transportation director told me, “There’s no legal time limit. He can be on the bus for 2 hours.” 

Individual transportation: As a non-verbal student with an uncontrolled seizure disorder, riding without other students on the bus resolved the threat of long bus rides.

Door to door transportation: From my door to the school’s door.

Transportation Nurse: Given because he was a student who traveled with rectal Valium that could only be giving by a nurse.

Parents, think hard about you’re child’s medical needs, get a doctor to write a letter of justification, and get those accommodations written into the IEP.

Also, according to NJ Stat. 18A:39-19.4 “The Commissioner of Education shall develop a student information card that includes information that should be readily available to a school bus driver and school bus aide for the purpose of promoting proper interaction with a student with special needs.” This card is to be filled out by the parent or guardian. If you’ve never seen one, you can find it on the New Jersey DOE website.

The school transportation system is deeply flawed. Schools have a list of students who need transportation. Transportation companies bid to receive a contract to provide transportation services. THE LOWEST BIDDER WINS.

The lowest bidder wins and the school districts do not vet these bus companies.

Once a new bus company dropped Benjamin off after school at my neighbor’s house. When my neighbor told the bus aide that Benjamin didn’t live there, she argued with him and insisted that she had picked Benjamin up at his home that morning. Luckily, I was tracking Benjamin via his iPhone, realized the problem, and got him home safely. Every student deserves to get home safely.

I do not have a clear understanding of what type of training Fajr Williams’ bus aide was given. According to New Jersey’s Department of Education, aides are to receive training twice a year.

You can see the School Bus Driver and Aide Training for Interacting with Students with Special Needs here: https://www.nj.gov/education/finance/transportation/training/dis/

It’s a 28 minute video. It does not give instructions for how to properly secure a wheelchair to a school bus. It does not discuss how to properly monitor students. It does not discuss the obvious need to keep your ears open and your face out of your cell phone. While Fajr Williams’ bus aide has been charged with manslaughter and endangering the welfare of a child, that does little to fix the underlying problems that allowed this tragedy to happen.

Students with disabilities deserve written legal protection when it comes to transportation services.

If your child can’t get to school safely, they can’t receive a free and appropriate education.

And a related service shouldn’t kill a child.