Maria Esteves’s son Miguel has autism -- and he’s supposed to ride a school bus every day from his door to his middle school, about five miles away.

But he was not given a bus route when the year began.

What You Need To Know

  • Maria Esteves' son is supposed to be bused to and from school, and be on board no more than 90 minutes

  • But he wasn't on a route at all at the start of the year, and when he got one, it was longer than the time limit on his IEP

  • So his mom resorted to pick him up -- which required taking him out of class early so she could make it to a second school to pick up her younger daughter who does not have bus service

“It was supposed to be set up in the summer for his bus, door-to-door, and first day of school came and went he wasn't on a route,” Esteves told NY1.

It took more than a week to get that fixed -- and many phone calls to the Office of Pupil Transportation to get him on a bus. But even then, there was a problem.

“They wanted to pick him up at 6:30 in the morning to go to school at eight, with about 17, 18 kids on this bus. And his IEP can't stand for that,” Esteves said.

Miguel’s individualized education plan, or IEP, requires limited time on the bus. His mom says a long route with many students presents sensory challenges for her son.

“He would get to school and throw up. He would get to school and be really nervous about the day. And if anyone knows anyone on the spectrum -- that's it. It's over. That’s, the beginning of your day is what sets the tone for the rest of the day,” she said.

She wouldn’t put him on the bus under those conditions. So every day, his dad drops him off at school before work, and she picks him up in the afternoon.

But his younger sister attends a closer-to-home elementary school, and is not entitled to bus service. They're dismissed at the exact same time, and Esteves can't be in two places at once. So she’s had to resort to taking Miguel out of school early every day.

“What did you miss, was it art and math?” she asked him on the way home one recent afternoon.

“Yeah art and math. I don’t like being late and I don't really like missing classes,” Miguel replied.

“I’m sorry honey. I’m working on it,” she told him. “You see me working on it.”

After she picks him up, she drives back across Staten Island to go pick up her daughter, who is too young to be released on her own.

“It's not the ideal at all,” she said.

An education department spokeswoman told NY1 that the travel time for Miguel’s route was actually under 90 mins, and that the bus had been arriving to the school early. She said the city would review the route to see if he could be picked up later.

So Esteves put her son on the bus for the first time this year. It picked him up at 7:05 -- and got to school at 8:35, 90 minutes later, and forty minutes late for the start of the school day.

“I think what's the most frustrating part is that I'm trying to do it the right way. I haven't cursed anyone out. I haven't been mean. Like, I go to the schools, I'm, like, begging them. I have all my documentation. I take my notes,” she said.

The bus continued to get her child to school late. But after the city reduced the number of students on his route, this Wednesday, for the first time, she says he arrived in just 50 minutes, and in time for the start of class.