On February 3rd an overflowing, standing room only crowd at the historic Freedom House in Boston put the School Department and First Student Inc., the school bus company, on the hot seat over issues of school bus safety in Boston. The largely African-American outpouring of over 150 parents, students, teachers, bus drivers, and community activists, and supporters came in response to a call put out by City Councilors Chuck Turner, Charles Yancey, and City Councilor Felix Arroyo, State Senator Dianne Wilkerson and State Representative Gloria Fox for a School Bus Safety Summit.

left to right: City Councilors Charles Yancey & Chuck Turner, Union officers Frantz Mendes, Oslyn Brumant, Steve Gillis & Steve Kirschbaum photos: Liza Green

The communities of color in Boston have been struggling for decades for equal, quality education and desegregation. Over the last year, they have successfully pushed back an attempt by the Mayor, the racist majority on the City Council and the Boston business community to turn back the clock and return to segregated, unequal "neighborhood schools." But for desegregation to be successful, the ride to and from school must be safe. The call for a School Bus Safety Summit came in response to an all out attack on the Boston School Bus Union, USWA Local 8751, by the Boston City Council, blaming drivers for safety problems and calling for installation of Homeland Security-style "Global Positioning System" (GPS) devices on the school buses. The real safety issues are a lack of monitors on the buses, a bus fleet in ill repair and inadequately maintained, inadequate personnel devoted to safety, lack of rosters and necessary safety information, inadequate numbers of drivers and poorly maintained and defective radios on the buses. The GPS would be a violation of the union's contract. The Greater Boston Labor Council has passed a resolution against it.

State Representative Gloria Fox

The campaign, which was taken up by many organizations and community groups including the International Action Center and the Women's Fightback Network, also demanded that Chuck Turner be restored to his seat as Chair of the City Council's Education Committee. In spite of the fact that 85% of the students in the Boston schools are from communities of color, the President of the City Council replaced Chuck Turner last year with a white racist chair and vice chair of the education committee, who pursued the agenda of returning to "neighborhood schools." At tonight's meeting Chuck announced that as a result of the campaign, the Council President had agreed to appoint Chuck as Vice-Chair and to also appoint Councilors Yancey and Arroyo to the committee.

Parents speak out for monitors on all buses

The summit opened with statements by Chuck Turner, Charles Yancey and Gloria Fox welcoming "union, community, and parents' to voice for themselves what actions need to be taken" and citing the City Council's failure year after year to pass Yancey's legislation for monitors on all of the buses.

Steve Gillis, President of Local 8751, Boston School Bus Drivers, described the system wide problems with lateness and safety caused by the School Department's budget cuts. He also stated that the drivers are all showing up on time for work, but because of cuts to the maintenance budget, there are not enough buses mechanically fit to go on the road. Preventive maintenance is not done on the buses. He described how a wheelchair bus had caught on fire last year, but because there was a monitor on board, it was able to be evacuated, and that a piece was missing causing it to catch on fire. Clicked routes require buses to deliver to as many as 3 different schools within a short window of time, causing lateness to some schools. He explained that "The School Department spent just over $2 million for bus monitor safety this year, out of a more than $700 million budget. It is a small price to pay for 40,000 children who rely on school buses in order to get their family's right to choose where to go to school."

Oslyn Brument, a steward and representative of the Union's safety committee, explained how for everyone's safety the driver's shouldn't have to take their eyes off the road, and that the human contact of a monitor is necessary to ensure children's safety on every bus, especially during a medical emergency. She also cited broken radios, and the lack of safety supervisors, stating that there are only 4 safety supervisors for over 700 buses and 4 bus yards.

School Bus Safety Summit Shows Power of Labor / Community Solidarity Parent, longtime driver, and Union shop steward Maria Lobban testifies at the Feb. 3rd Safety Summit about the emergency need for a monitor on her bus to help with a special needs child with medical needs. City Councilor Chuck Turner told Lobban not to drive the trip unless a monitor was immediately assigned, resulting in thunderous applause from the crowd and protests from Rich Jacobs of the School Dept. The next morning, Ms. Lobban's bus, as well as several buses cited by parents at the Renaissance school, were assigned monitors. In Unity there is Strength

But the most chilling and gripping testimony came from the parents. One parent cited the experience of their autistic child being missing for 1½ hours, and the inability to get anyone from the school department to answer and to treat him with respect, and the absence of a monitor on that bus. A bus driver and parent described the condition of a student who has a metal plate in her head, and who was scratching at it and hitting it, with no monitor on the bus.

Another mother of 3 children in the system, including a 13 year old special needs student, cited how she had missed 38 days of school so far this year because of no bus in spite of being certified as requiring door to door special needs service. She described buses overfull with 3 kids to a seat and fights breaking out with no monitors. Kids are jumping over the seats, throwing back packs, and children are getting hurt.

School Department Transportation Chief Richard Jacobs answered their concerns by implying that the parents weren't telling the truth. And despite the pleas all night long, said he didn't believe it was necessary to put a monitor on every bus.

Councilmen Turner and Yancey and State Representative Fox promised that this campaign would continue until the voices and concerns of the community were met.

Say NO to Racism! Join the Campaign to Have Chuck Turner Appointed Chair of Boston City Council Education Committee

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download PDF version Coretta Scott King And Martin Luther King III Endorse Million Worker March Set For Oct.17 - MLK III To Speak at Workers’ Rights and Antiwar Rally at the Lincoln Monument Where His Father Stood in 1963 New England Million Worker March Committee Condemns the Police Attack on the Confederation of Haitian Workers (CTH). Demands Immediate Release of Haitian Workers Arrested Without Charge Oct. 17 - 12 noon Lincoln Memorial - Washington DC Million Worker March Get on the Buses to the Million Worker March! For more information please call: 617-524-3507 or email The International Longshore and Warehouse Union, Local 10, recently passed a resolution proposing a million worker march on Washington in 2004 on Sunday, October 17, 2004. This mobilization is being proposed in response to the attacks upon working families in America and the millions of jobs lost during the Bush administration and with the complicity of Congress. The working class has not suffered such hardships since the Great Depression. Now is the time for organized/unorganized labor, the interfaith and community organizations to show solidarity and demand that all elected officials address the needs of working people. As working class people, we know more than any others the difficulties and limitations we face both in our communities and workplaces. We shall therefore be representing ourselves during this march, independent from all politicians, while putting forward to the entire country, our program for the betterment of America's majority working population. While we are in the early stages of planning this action, we are urging unions, community groups, social justice organizations, etc. to join us in making this march a reality. We need you and your organizations help. The crises we face is severe. By mobilizing and uniting organized and unorganized labor with our community and religious allies we will be able to more effectively stop the attack on working people and improve our living and working conditions. For more information please call: 617-524-3507 or email Logistics MWM Updates Purchase T-shirts/buttons or make a donation MWM: National PSA from Danny Glover Million Worker March Video PSA Open Letter to Women Activists Open Letter to the Anti-War Movement LGBT 4 Million Worker March Demands Endorse the March Endorsers Organizing Centers Downloadable Flyer (2-sided) Downloadable Flyer (English/Spanish) Youth 4 MWM Flyer Anti-War 4 MWM Flyer download flyer below, PDF format (176K) download flyer above, PDF format (176K) Join us in demanding: Restore Councilor Chuck Turner to Chair of the Education Committee, Now! Write a letter of protest. download flyer above, PDF format (15K) download flyer above, PDF format (15K)