Father: Third-grade son denied school bus service

A Bed-Stuy father says his son is being denied school bus service. Ernest Roberts says his two sons, D'Amari and Omari, attend P.S. 21, but since the start of the school year D'Amari has been forced

News 12 Staff

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Oct 14, 2016, 11:37 PM

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Updated 2,842 days ago

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A Bed-Stuy father says his son is being denied school bus service.

Ernest Roberts says his two sons, D'Amari and Omari, attend P.S. 21, but since the start of the school year D'Amari has been forced to take an MTA bus to class.

Omari, 7, takes the school bus, but the Office of Pupil Transportation told Roberts that D'Amari has to take public transportation since he is a third-grader.

"OPT has denied him being on the bus, saying that they do not bus third-graders, and he doesn't live a mile away, which is unacceptable to me," says Roberts.

The family lives more than half a mile away from the school, falling within the guidelines of receiving bussing, according to the OPT.

"They told him that the school would issue him a MetroCard for him to get on the bus himself," says Roberts.

Roberts say it is ridiculous that his 8-year-old has to use public transportation by himself. He also feels it could compromise his health, since D'Amari has chronic asthma.

Roberts says he has no intention of putting his children in another school.

News 12 Brooklyn reached out to the Department of Education and OPT several times, but has not yet heard back.

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