For many families, the reliability of school transportation is a given. However, in Wake County, some parents of children with special needs face a different reality. Charise Henderson, whose son Andrel has missed over a hundred days of school, is battling a transportation challenge that is impacting her children’s education.
Charise explained her frustration when a school social worker visited to discuss Andrel’s chronic absenteeism. “So I said, ‘Hold on, but never are y’all addressing he didn’t have transportation,’” she recounted. Her sons rely on vans provided by contracted vendors due to their special needs, but these services have been inconsistent.
The cost of alternative transportation is prohibitive for Charise, who does not drive. “If I don’t have the money to take them to school in a cab, they can’t get to school,” she said, adding that cab fares range from $20 to $60 per round trip…