This column, from the weekly opinion piece MATTER OF FACT, first appeared on BrooklynReporter.com, the Home Reporter and Spectator dated March 17, 2023
At the time this column was written, I was still in possession of the keys to someone else’s school bus, due to a dangerous situation I put myself in the middle of a week before. Walking past a school bus parked by a New York City public school at night or on weekends is not atypical – more on why that is below – but hearing kids on such a school bus is not. And hearing them start the ignition definitely is not.
My children’s elementary school is across the street from our home. On a late Sunday afternoon, I was walking on my block when I heard noise from a school bus parked by the school and noticed a few kids were entering and then immediately walking through it. As I began crossing the street to tell them they needed to exit the vehicle, one of them started the ignition, turning it on.
I hurried around to the doors on the non-driver side and got them out of the bus. One of them said the doors had been left open, as they nervously scurried away. The fact the bus door was not only left unlocked and open near the entrance to a crowded schoolyard playground/park but that the keys were inside, where kids were able to start the ignition, could have resulted in a tragedy had they put the bus in drive.
The labeling on the bus showed that it was a from a company that makes rounds for a private school. I knew kids from that yeshivah the bus serves would be relying on it the next day, so I tried burying the keys in the center console and taping the doors shut. However, as I watched from my home across the street, kids again made their way into the bus. I raced over to get them out as they again started the ignition. After that time, I took the keys with me.
I called the police after each time kids were in the bus and they did come many hours later. They explained that if I left the keys with them, the owner may never know where to retrieve them. It took several days, but I did speak with staffers from Councilman Yeger’s and Assemblyman Eichenstein’s offices, as their districts are where the yeshivah is located that this bus is contracted to make pickups and drop-offs.
Though getting the keys back to the owner of the bus was important, as the staffer from Assemblyman Eichenstein’s office said to me, the most important thing is the safety of our kids and making sure nothing like this ever happens again. Part of what made the aftermath of this dangerous situation so difficult to navigate, is the law.
Busses serving public school busses having myriad issues, but for those contracted by the New York City Department of Education, there are clear regulations and means to report incidents. Not so much for non-public school busses. Most DOE-contracted busses are stored in private spaces when not doing their rounds. For private school busses, many just park on city streets, legally.
Whereas commercial vehicles are prohibited from parking overnight on city streets, the law allows private school busses to park that way, given they are along the property of a New York City public school, which is why these busses surround public school buildings and schoolyards on residential blocks every night and weekend. The use of city streets as free storage for their large vehicles has been an eyesore, a nuisance, an inconvenience, an environmental hazard, a health concern, and a quality-of-life issue for decades, but the situation I encountered proved it could also be a danger to the physical wellbeing of children, with no real way to remedy it or ensure it does not happen again.
Bills to correct this problem have been introduced at every level of state and city government for sessions going back over a decade. Senator Robert Jackson’s bill, S354, would amend the law to prohibit school busses from parking on city streets overnight. Councilmember Robert Holden’s bill, INT 253-2022, which is co-sponsored by his colleagues Justin Brannan, Marjorie Velázquez, Sandy Nurse, and Joann Ariola, would do the same, as well as prohibit school busses from parking on city streets over weekends.
It is well past time that the law is finally changed to protect our communities and our kids. Our residential streets should no longer be treated as no-fee parking lots for private school busses, with no accountability or oversight for the operators of these busses, regardless of what they do.
