On October 3, 2025, the District of Columbia City Council’s Committee of the Whole convened a follow-up to the previous hearing on October 28, 2025. As with the previous hearing, the purpose of this hearing was to examine the performance of the Office of the State Superintendent of Education’s Division of Student Transportation (OSSE DOT) in providing safe, reliable, and efficient transportation for eligible students with disabilities to and from school as a “related service” required by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)  (34 C.F.R. § 300.34).

To view the hearing in its entirety, click here.

To view resources from the hearing page, click here.  This includes a link to the Post-DOT Hearing Responses filed by OSSE discussed below.

The stated purpose of the meeting was to discuss updates on milestones on the procurement process for a routing and GPS bus tracking system, milestones for broader improvements to OSSE-DOT’s transportation systems, and for the Council to receive OSSE-DOT’s strategic plan. The hearing began with testimonies from two parents of students who use OSSE-DOT, both of whom reported facing challenges related to lapses in communication from OSSE-DOT’s Parent Resource Center regarding lateness, much of which stemmed from an inadequate definition “on-time” in use by OSSE. In addition to tardiness and communication issues, parents detailed issues with staff being unaware of students’ IEP needs and gaps in staffing leading to lack of monitoring, which lead in some instances to behavioral issues between students going unresolved.

Chairman Mendelson, based on earlier submissions from impacted families as well as the present parent testimonies, questioned OSSE about bus route, tracking and the procurement process. Parents stated that bus routes have changed, at times showing improvement, but cited some inconsistencies. One parent reported using Apple AirTag features to track their child’s position, while another reported a similar Samsung feature. In both cases, while these tracking systems have helped in monitoring transportation and ensuring some safety and peace of mind, they are not completely reliable, nor can they be implemented by OSSE. Neither system provides perfect real-time tracking of student location, nor do they provide entirely accurate addresses. As such, when OSSE-DOT experiences delays without reporting to parents, families can be left guessing as to their children’s whereabouts, which goes against OSSE-DOT’s responsibility to provide safe, reliable, and efficient transportation. One parent mentioned that accurate ETAs from OSSE-DOT, in cases of lateness, would go far to solve some of these issues, and the Chairman responded that even if ETAs were consistently communicated to families, lateness would still be problematic, especially for arrival at school.

The Committee also discussed OSSE-DOT’s complaints process, and found that handbook language was insufficiently clear to parents about what complaints can be made and under what circumstances. Additionally, requirements for making complaints seemed overly restrictive, although OSSE stated that this is not what they meant.  This was a theme in the hearing – OSSE saying that they needed to communicate better.

In its questioning of OSSE Deputy Superintendent of Operations, the Committee narrowed in on several key areas. Chairman Mendelson asked OSSE’s Deputy Superintendent to define “on time” in relation to the agency’s measurement. He recalled from previous testimony that OSSE-DOT measures transportation being “on time” relative to when it leaves the terminal, and rightly expressed that that definition of “on time” would differ from a parent’s definition. Parents expect a bus that’s “on time” to be dropping a student off at the expected time, with which OSSE’s definition clashes. As Chairman Mendelson pointed out, the projected “on time” schedule given by OSSE is unrealistic according to parent testimony. This presents an issue for parents and students with disabilities as it negatively impacts scheduling on all parties and can create distress.

Also of note were Councilmember Nadeau’s questions regarding contract procurement of the GPS system and parent application. Nadeau pointed out that she understood the contract procurement process to have began in July 2024, with the contract having been just signed at the end of November 2025. This 17-18 month window since the start of procurement is problematic in itself, as Nadeau seems to point out. However, the GPS tracking system and parent application has been in discussion for much longer, since at least 2019, as discussed in this earlier AJE blog post, where we, perhaps naively, said –

Additionally, OSSE-DOT has been working to improve their services by incorporating parent and student feedback. This summer OSSE is piloting a “parent portal” which will serve as a one-stop shop for parents to directly access and update information regarding their child’s transportation. OSSE is also continuing to develop an app for parents, similar to UBER or NEXTBUS, which will allow them to track the location of their child’s bus in real time.  Yes parents – there will finally be an app for that!

This represents a clear delay in OSSE-DOT fulfilling its responsibilities to parents and students with disabilities.

OSSE-DOT’s Deputy Superintendent of Operations revealed several other key things of note during the roundtable. As of right now, each bus used by OSSE-DOT contains a GPS tracking chip that the Parent Resource Center can view and uses to manage transportation. Despite this, these chips are not being used to make tracking information available to parents, you can view the OSSE memo on the resources from the hearing page, look for the link titled FERPA Legal Memo.pdf.  Also on that same page you can read OSSE’s responses following the October hearing – Post-DOT Hearing Responses.pdf.  Many parents will be surprised to hear that OSSE stated that “While delays due to staffing shortages have occurred, there has not been a day when OSSE-DOT was unable to transport a student due to the unavailability of a 1:1 aide.” in respond to Council inquiries.    OSSE also stated in those answer they are “unable to identify the exact number of lawsuits against OSSE-DOT in each of the past ten fiscal years because we do not maintain a case management system for lawsuits”. AJE would suggest that parents who intend submit testimony for the closure of the record in the 17th, share with the Council if they have had to file a Due Process Complaint regarding transportation, as OSSE appears unaware of how many times parents have been force to do so.

To view OSSE-DOT’s Deputy Superintendent of Operations’ full written testimony, click here.

To view OSSE-DOT’s 2025-26 Internal Strategic Roadmap, click here.

To view OSSE’s website, click here.

Chairman Mendelson pointed out inconsistencies between parent and OSSE testimony regarding how the lack of 1:1 aids impacts transportation. Previously, OSSE had testified that there has never been an issue with transportation due to unavailability of aids, which contradicts multiple instances reported by parents. Mendelson said, “I don’t think that the parents are lying” about the lack of legally required 1:1 aids. The Deputy Superintendent responded that he could not speak to specific instances, but that he would go back and review routes in question.

OSSE representatives were also unable to answer regarding the number of lawsuits they have received. To be clear, this means OSSE does not know how many times they have been sued for failing in their responsibilities, under IDEA or elsewhere.

Parents, please remember that, as evidenced from the questions asked in this roundtable, the Committee does read testimony submissions from impacted families, and that these submissions do inform his questions to OSSE-DOT. YOUR TESTIMONY IS USEFUL.

You may submit testimony about OSSE-DOT for the next hearing via voicemail or written document until 12/17 at this link.