Parents, pols had hoped to get service until trial on issue begins Monday
Students board buses after being dismissed from Paulo Intermediate School in Huguenot in May. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The buses still are not rolling.
A last ditch effort to force the city to provide yellow buses for nearly 3,000 Staten Island seventh and eighth graders fell short when a Staten Island judge declined to issue another temporary restraining order today.
State Supreme Court Justice John Fusco said he did not have the authority to overturn a decision by the state Appellate Court to throw out a temporary restraining he ordered on Aug. 16.
The plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the city -- led by City Councilman Vincent Ignizio (R- South Shore) and including a half dozen parents -- were hoping to exploit a loophole in the language of the Appellate Court ruling. They also wanted to speed up the start of the trial, which is scheduled for Monday.
The plaintiffs lost both arguments, but they did gain some traction in the bigger legal battle when Fusco ordered the city to turn over any correspondence between Department of Education (DOE) officials and Dennis Walcott, the deputy mayor for education and community development, regarding cuts to the yellow bus service. Attorneys for the city had refused, claiming those are "privileged" documents.
Fusco, who at times appeared annoyed during the two-hour hearing at the Homeport in Stapleton this morning, called the city's resistance "suspicious."
Queens City Councilman Eric A. Ulrich also petitioned the court today add his name to the lawsuit - and some other Council members may join him when the trial starts Monday. Fusco intends to decide tomorrow whether they have standing on the matter.
The battle over bus service began in May, when the Advance first reported the DOE planned to end yellow bus service for about 4,600 students citywide. Though the department normally provides bus service to students only through sixth grade, 42 years ago it granted a variance to seventh- and eighth-graders at 70 schools where the options in respect to public transportation are limited.
Parents, teachers and City Council members opposing the bus cuts are planning to stage a rally at 6 tonight outside Paulo Intermediate School in Huguenot.