Parents, pols win suit vs. city, which will appeal
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A state Supreme Court justice ruled yesterday that the city's decision to take away yellow bus service from thousands of Staten Island seventh- and eighth-graders was made "without concern for the welfare and safety of the affected students."
Students board buses after being dismissed from Paulo Intermediate School in Huguenot in May. Justice John Fusco ruled that the city was wrong to cut service for seventh-and eighth-graders. The decision was in response to a lawsuit that parents and local elected leaders on Staten Island filed against the city after the school bus variances were taken from nearly 3,000 students across the borough at the start of the school year.
The city has said it will immediately appeal, a process that could keep the buses off the roads for some time, as the court case continues to play out.
In his 26-page decision, Justice John Fusco acknowledged the tough budget choices faced by the city Department of Education but said the denial-of-service decision should have been more considered. The impact on students and their families should have been intensively studied, he maintained.
"This court is aware of the painstaking work involved in reaching the decisions that affect the citizens of this city, whether those decisions are received with applause or anger," the ruling reads. "However ... budgetary decisions that affect pupil education cannot be made on assumptions without a factual basis to support those assumptions."
City Councilman Vincent Ignizio (R-South Shore) said he was thrilled by the ruling. "We're extremely happy that the judge saw it as an act that was made arbitrarily and capriciously and endangered children," Ignizio said. "Our hope is that the new chancellor will take a fresh look at this and not seek to appeal."
In his decision, Justice John Fusco faulted Department of Education for haste with which it decided to deny bus service to seventh- and eighth-graders.Assemblywoman-elect Nicole Malliotakis (R-East Shore/Brooklyn) said she spoke with newly appointed Schools Chancellor Cathie Black yesterday to stress that "it is unreasonable to strip Staten Island students of such a vital service."
It was clear from the city's response to the decision, however, that their conversations could prove fruitless.
"The city and its Department of Education strongly disagree with the court's conclusion that the DOE's budgetary decision to discontinue yellow-bus transportation for 7th and 8th graders in Staten Island and on the Rockaway Peninsula was arbitrary and capricious," a statement issued by the city law department read. "In determining that these students must be provided yellow-bus transportation, while 7th and 8th graders throughout the rest of the city are not, the court ignored both the law, the record and equity. We will be taking an immediate appeal, and will invoke our automatic stay."
Ronald Castorina, the Sunnyside attorney representing parents pro bono, said he's hopeful Fusco's ruling will stand strong in the appellate division.
"The court was very sensitive to all the issues that were raised," he said. "It was a very well-written, well-drafted decision that hit each of the points of the proceedings. It's an iron-clad decision, rooted in law -- rooted in facts."
Though the city plans to ask for a stay -- meaning buses would stay off the roads until the appeal is considered, there is a chance the court could refuse it immediately.
There is also a chance the stay would go to a hearing, though the decision would likely be made in a matter of days.
An appeal, however, could take up to a year by some estimates.
While awaiting the news, parents have been celebrating their victory.
"I'm just really overjoyed the court took as much time as it did considering the evidence, considering the facts, considering the testimonies," said Peter Calandrella, a member of the Community Education Council 31. "It's tremendous."