Parents worry about unsupervised cab rides for students

Sioux Falls schools are using taxi cabs to shuttle a growing number of students with special education or behavioral needs from one building to another.

Some parents were surprised to learn their children were being transported by taxi cab and unsettled by the idea of unsupervised rides with strangers.

But the Sioux Falls School District says drivers go through background checks similar to school bus drivers and that it's a cost-effective, safe solution for transporting kids.

The district has had a contract with Yellow Cab Inc. since 1974 to help move students during the day when school buses aren't available or economical. It paid Yellow Cab about $200,000 in the last fiscal year for student transportation.

Jennifer Miller learned years ago that her son, now 17, would be riding alone in a taxi cab to get to school programs for the district's early childhood classes.

Looking back, Miller is uncomfortable with the idea of her son, who has autism, riding alone with an adult who wasn't trained to work with kids, let alone those with special needs.

“He could have had a behavior issue,” Miller said. “He was pretty young and I don’t know what a cab driver would do.”

Students who ride alone in taxis are often the district's most vulnerable. Cab drivers move about 160 students every day, including young children with behavioral problems in the Bridges program at Horace Mann Elementary School. Many spend some of the day in regular classrooms in other buildings. Educators are required to provide rides, free of charge, for these students.

Superintendent Brian Maher said in an interview Friday that he shared Miller's concern when he first took over the district last summer.

"I grew up in a small town," Maher said. "And I thought of cabs as 'big city,' and I heard of issues with taxi cab situations ... and so there's a little bit of fear of the unknown for me."

Maher's fears were assuaged when he saw the district's requirements for cab drivers, who undergo local and national criminal background checks similar to school bus drivers. The city doesn't allow cab companies to hire drivers who have been convicted of a DUI or felony in the past seven years or anyone on the national sex offender registry.

The system isn't foolproof. In November 2012, Robert Allan Moulton was assigned to drive a 6-year-old student at Hawthorne Elementary School. Weeks later, the 52-year-old Yellow Cab driver was investigated by police for inappropriately touching the child on multiple occasions, according to court documents. Sioux Falls school officials helped organize the rides, and were subpoenaed for Moulton's trial.

Moulton pleaded guilty in September 2013 to contributing to the abuse of a child and was sentenced to a year in jail. He received credit for 192 days served.

Sioux Falls isn’t the only school district to use taxis, said Tim Neyhart, executive director for South Dakota Advocacy, but they may be the only one in the state still using them.

Neyhart remembers a time in the 1990s when Rapid City used taxis. Today, Rapid City has designated buses for special education students, and others are transported in SUVs driven by district employees.

The Pierre School District does not have access to taxis but has sent students on the city’s public transit system in emergency situations. Aberdeen schools have used taxis occasionally, but typically rely on busing.

Cab rides aren't inherently an inappropriate way to get students from A to B, Neyhart said. The issues arise when parents aren’t involved in the conversation.

“It would seem to me to be a good practice to have the conversation with the parents so they understood what was happening,” Neyhart said.

The district has to be "financially reasonable," Maher said, adding that if students weren’t transported by cab, the alternative would likely cost as much or more.

In addition to background checks required by Yellow Cab, the district has a list of requirements for drivers, including stipulations that drivers never touch students — unless for their safety, after which a form must be filed with the district — or use foul language around students.

“There are expectations and training that go into play for the drivers transporting our students," Maher said.

Safeguards don’t make transportation bullet proof, Maher said, but he doesn't believe the risk is any greater with cabs than other options.

Parent Renee Bostick doesn't think cab drivers are bad people, she just didn’t like the idea of one adult being alone with her son, who has autism. She also thinks the practice is unfair to drivers.

“I wouldn’t have minded a cab if they had training, and if there was an aide or another individual in the cab,” Bostick said.

Instead, Bostick chose to take time out of her day to drive her son between programs. Under the law, educators must agree to discuss alternatives if a parent is uncomfortable with transportation. If a parent agrees to drive, schools must offer reimbursement for gas.

For Miller, the fact that her son needs to be transported between buildings echoes a deeper problem.

“Unfortunately this district is very program driven,” Miller said. “We look at kids and we want to put them in programs instead of looking at an inclusive model.”

Since starting as superintendent, Maher said he has not personally had calls from parents concerned about the taxi rides. The district has heard from parents in the past, but the same is true for other modes of transportation.

School Board Member Kate Parker can't recall the issue coming up at any public meeting. The board routinely approves Yellow Cab expenses but has not discussed the district’s use of taxis in recent years, she said.

“Maybe it is a conversation we need to have at the board table," Parker said. "We can’t, if there is a problem, we can’t solve that problem if we don’t hear about it."

Read the districts rules and contracts regarding taxi cab transportation: