I live in Queens, and my two children attend different schools about as far apart as you can get in this borough. My son is in a special program (which is excellent) for kids with autism in Bellerose, which is right on the Nassau County border. My daughter is in a gifted and talented program at a school in Long Island City, across the river from Manhattan. My husband and I both work full time. Thankfully I can do some work from home and my husband is self-employed and can have flexible hours, and we are taking turns with a neighbor whose child also attends the school in Long Island City, but I don't understand how either the Mayor or the DOE think working parents can manage this for very long, especially, as is the case with my son, where there is no available public transportation to the school. The mayor and DOE are rightfully proud that NYC offers a lot of choice in schools for parents, but those choices come at a cost. Along with the special ed programs, one of the main reasons for the need for buses is the increase in charter schools, which are often out of zone. If they are going to push charter schools and school choice, they can't then pull the rug out from under the parents who choose alternative schools, and they certainly shouldn't pull the rug out from under parents of kids with special needs. I would be much happier if those programs the city offers were in my neighborhood but they are not.

How much job protection is the city offering (or encouraging businesses to offer) to parents who will be consistently late and/or leaving early etc. because of this strike?

Allow me to break it down to you ,special needs kids have a routine and when that routine is broken parents are left with an extra problem to deal with .parents with the average kid will not get it and unfortunately the average parent is usually the one who making the choices that we have to deal with .I hope this is strike is over soon.

The A train. Our children ultimately are our responsibility so I am looking forward to the additional hour I get to spend with him, great conversations usually ensue. I do not understand how parents can put their personal needs( getting to work on time) before what is ultimately better for the whole: qualified professionals driving buses full of children across NYC. It is not an easy job and I appreciate the same face, the same smile and the same caution when driving from my drivers today . I support 100% the drivers. Times like this are what separate the good schools from great schools & show what parental involvement looks like: a community of parents working for every child not .
Why isn't Bloomberg/Walcott askig employers to be accomodating right now during strike I am sure if an exec order came in for parents to be excused noone would bitch..But its better to demonize working class people yet again. and use children as the pity pawns. 100% behind the strike!

Why no report on the actual strike? Sort of demeaning to assume that your only listeners are inconvenienced moms -- and that WNYC listeners do not care about labor issues.

Thanks for the comment, Josh. We posted an analysis of the issues underpinning the strike here: http://www.schoolbook.org/201...

The strike is definitely going to have a huge impact on our daily routine. I have two children, one in District 75 and one in mainstream. They both attend different schools. Inevitably, one of them will be late for school every day and will have to be picked early. My autistic son likes trains and buses, but gets restless when trips are long. He will sit on other passengers when he is tired, gets overstimulated when the trains are overcrowded, and I sincerely believe that he is going to be overwhelmed. I just really wish that all the parties involved had gone the extra mile to prevent our kids from facing this ordeal.

The comment bus drivers make about "lowest bidder" is incorrect. It is the "lowest qualified bidder." Also, I'm so unimpressed with the so called "quality" of the current drivers, have a very low opinion of them and if they expect me to support their employment protection, they don't have my support. I welcome competitive bidding as a potential improvement.

We also heard from parents on Twitter on how their children are commuting to school:

Amanda Aroncyzk (@aroncyzk) tweeted, "Day 1 of car & subway pooling. Our schedules are a mess & we're all missing

work. How long will this bus strike last?"

Carrie (@scottzach1) tweeted, "1 in taxi w mom; 1 in taxi w dad. Strike is gonna cost us a fortune."

Unbelieveable! I just heard that this mayor is willing to simply loose 250 million dollars that could have been obtained in school aid if a teacher evaluation plan could have been negotiated with the teachers union and although he stated it was very close, his administration was unable to reach an agreement because he does not want the plan to expire in 2 years and have the next mayor re-negotiate -- what a control freak! How unreasonable and unflexible is this administration! On the one hand they are picking on the school bus drivers using the false excuse that they want to save money to feed back into the school system yet they are so quick to loose $250 million dollars of school aid because they dont want to compromise! What a disgrace - truly they are out of touch! UNREAL!

Parents, teachers, student transporters of every stripe,let's calm down and celebrate the fact that in the not too distant fuure, the clown prince lame duck carpetbagger pretender to the throne Doomturd will be out of all of our lives. His recent actions are indicative of the anxiety he is facing at being separated from the power we (well myself thankfully not included)have allowed him to wield over us. In future,in fact from this moment forward ,please feel free to treat said clown with the due disrespect and antagonism due one in his self-bought and deserving circumstances.

Thank you all for sharing your anecdotes and opinions! We are thinking of some of the questions you brought up as we report on the bus strike and teacher evaluation deal.

I don't understand why school bus contracts need to be more competitive, to my understanding they need to get children from and to school, are they going to provide children with snacks and stories, Banks,Hospitals,Restaurants..etc.need to be competitive not school busses. Why not go over the Mayor's head an network with the Governor, I intend to sue the city and anyone else if my son misses another day of school,and 15 other parents are down for the cause!!!!

I am a mother of two boys on the autism spectrum they have not been going to school since the strike began and it is very very stressful my oldest son is going crazy he miss going to school his school is very far from home and he has bad outburst on NYC bus or train my youngest his school is extremely far from home he has braces on his legs and can't walk good a cab is 60 dollars a day for one child, the mayor Obvioysly don't care about these kids and their disability he needs to take my kids to school on the bus with the metro card and I guarantee you he won't survive is a shame I am depressed don't know what else to do can't find nobody to drop them off or pick them up plus I have a job being a single mother of two boys on autism is very hard and this city makes it even worse.

My five year old has special needs and it is very difficult for him to travel on the subway and public buses. We have been unable to take him to school since the strike began. I know that I would not trust a replacement driver especially one with no matron to escort my son to school. I hope the mayor and union leaders can meet soon. If not, I hope the national labor board can rule in the favor of parents. We want our kids in school. I have heard many say "why dont you do this and why don't you do that?" This is all easier said than done unless they can walk in my shoes. Please sign my petition to end the bus strike. http://www.thepetitionsite.co...

I have been spending 5 hours a day getting my 7yo son to and from school during this strike. The Office of Pupil Transportation tells me they are happy to pay for a car service to get my son to school (public transportation is less than perfect, requires a lot of walking transfers in what is now well-below-freezing January weather), but they won't pay for me to get home via MTA (I didn't even ask if they'd pay for my car service home, haha). My son is autistic and has an IEP which mandates that the Dept of Ed provide transportation from our door to my son's school - where do I sign up for the class action lawsuit against the City for breech of contract and Educational Neglect? Meanwhile, my neighbor's children continue to get bus service because they're picked up by a different bus company. The willy-nilly chaos of this simply adds to parental frustration.

As if getting a functional bus route at the beginning of every year weren't enough drama, they add this to the mix in the dead of winter. I'm pro-union and I don't think what the drivers & matrons are asking for is extreme or out of order, but this has been one of the longest weeks of my life...

My daughter is 19, has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair. Her school is in Westchester and so far we have been unable to arrange any transportation. Being non-verbal she cannot ride along in a van or taxi-- Matrons do have a critical role in busing children with special needs.
In addition to her losing a over a week of school, she has not had PT,OT or speech therapy as she receives all those services through at school. Missing much more of school also has a terrible impact on her physical as well as social, emotional, and educational well-being.

I am able to bring my son, who is 18 and has autism, to his school every morning. We live in Canarsie, he goes to school in Coney Island, and I work in Brownsville. My usual 10 minute commute is 1 hour. I appreciate his school opening its door 40 minutes earlier to receive students of parents who have to get to work. My husband usually does the afternoon pick up but on occasion I have had to do the picking up. It is wearing us out and he misses his bus ride. We are making it work but miss our driver and matron. We have always been blessed to have professional and courteous drivers and matrons. I am leery about having new, inexperienced personnel transporting my son to and from school. That is the same as putting him in a taxi or car service to send him to school. Not an option.