On Thursday, November 20, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz stood with Council Members David Yassky, Simcha Felder and Robert Jackson, Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum, members of New York’s education advocacy groups, Community Education Councils (CEC) and Parent Teacher Associations (PTA) to protest the Department of Education’s plan to redraw school bus routes for the third time in two years.

According to Council Member Yassky, the DOE’s last effort to reroute the City’s schools buses left many children stranded at local bus stops while others waited up to two hours on school buses. Those gathered insisted that any DOE rerouting plans moving forward be presented to the CECs for feedback and community comment before being implemented.

“Any policy that leaves our city’s kids out in the cold is a bad one,” said BP Markowitz. “But that is exactly what has happened in the past when the DOE has redrawn bus routes without warning during the coldest months of the school year. This time, let’s do things right. Before implementing any further changes in routes, the DOE should discuss them with the CEC’s. Our kids need to know ‘that the bus stops here.’”