Transportation
For some students on IEPs transportation is just General Transportation, for others it is a Related Service. Status would be noted in the Transportation section of a student's IEP (page IEP 6).
It is General Transportation if [per 603 CMR 28.05(5)]:
#1 the Team decides that student does not require transportation as a
result of his or her disability in order to benefit from special
education and they attend the school they would otherwise attend if they
were not disabled. This child would be subject to the new rule, as well
as any other transportation rules a child without a disability would be
subjected to.
or
#2 the Team decides that a student does not require transportation as a
result of his or her disability in order to benefit from special
education but they do not attend the school they would otherwise attend
if they were not disabled (such as if they attend a
substantially-separate classroom that is part of a district-wide
program). This child would be entitled to transportation on a "regular"
vehicle, regardless of the "two mile" rule.
#1 the Team determines that the student's disability requires transportation or specialized transportation arrangements in order to benefit from special education. This may be on either a "regular" transportation vehicle with accommodations and/or modifications or a "special" transportation vehicle.
Thus, parents should look at their child's IEP to determine the category that
your child falls into.
For parents of students
who fit into the General Transportation category #1, you should
consider how this new rule will affect your child.
Some children (such as those with intellectual impairments, processing difficulties, or poor
judgment abilities) may have been able to travel a short distance to
school alone, but cannot safely make the 2 miles to school - this is in
particular regard to middle and high school students, as most elementary
students would travel with parents anyway.
Parents of children who fall into this category might then want to address with the Team whether a new category might be more appropriate. You do not need to wait until the annual Team meeting - you can ask to have a meeting scheduled in order to address this.
Here are a couple of resources that may be helpful in terms of understanding special
education transportation issues (please note that
none of these are Massachusetts specific):
http://www.taalliance.org/publications/pdfs/all55.pdf
http://www.pluk.org/Pubs/Fed/IDEA_Transportation_606K.pdf
http://www.ped.state.nm.us/seo/library/transguide.pdf
