THURSDAY APRIL 2, 2026
SOUTH BOSTON ONLINE
VOLUME XIX- ISSUE 74
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Happy Easter
he students in South Boston Catholic Academy had a chance to celebrate Easter with their classmates and participate in many great Easter projects. We focused on Holy Week: Jesus’s final days—Palm Sunday (Jesus entering Jerusalem), Holy Thursday (Jesus’ last supper), and Good Friday (the sadness of Jesus’ death), and Easter Sunday. These sacred days focus on Jesus’s immense love, his death on the cross to take away sins, and his resurrection (coming back to life). Jesus’ immense love bridges the gap between humanity and God. A Big Thank You to our fantastic
SBCA Student Council members, Ms. Stephanie Olsen and Ms. Lauren Monaghan who hosted a fun Easter Egg Hunt for Grades K1 to 6th during their scheduled recess times. The eggs contained small prizes such as stickers, TAG Day passes, or homework passes for one subject. Thank you to all our dedicated teachers and staff for making it another wonderful Easter at SBCA and in the Early Childhood Center! On behalf of our Principal, Dr. Helenann Civian, and all of us at South Boston Catholic Academy and at the Early Childhood Center, we hope everyone will have a Blessed and Happy Easter!
Councilors Flynn and Murphy Hold Hearing on BPS Bus Delays
B
oston City Councilors Ed Flynn and Erin Murphy held a hearing to discuss chronic Boston Public Schools (BPS) school bus delays and special education transportation failures. BPS Transportation serves approximately 22,000 students and transports them across the city’s nine different districts every day. BPS transportation still has not reached the 95% on-time arrival rate, with reports indicating BPS has only maintained a 90% on-time arrival rate in the morning, and merely 84% in the afternoon. Many parents continue to contact the city regarding excessive delays and changes in their child’s bus route, many of which had not been communicated with in advance. Over the last several years, the unreliable use of the Zum app for BPS parents and families has seemingly exacerbated these issues. Many parents have written to city officials and their elected
representatives about excessive delays for pick up and drop off, having to consistently drive their children due to buses failing to show up at all, the app becoming unavailable, or children having to provide directions to bus drivers. BPS parents testified about the difficulties they have experienced with BPS transportation, including long afternoons wondering where their children were, and days of late starts at work due to delayed morning pickups. Some parents even testified that their child’s bus was delayed on the morning of the hearing. Parents also noted that BPS has the ability to fine Transdev $500 for every trip that is over an hour late or does not show up at all. The Administration indicated that BPS has not been following through on those fines, despite a sharp increase in school bus delays since December. Reimbursement for Ubers/Lyfts to or from school is available for families with Individualized
Education Programs (IDPs). “It is unacceptable that for the last several years, BPS families and students with disabilities have had to endure the uncertainty as to whether their bus would arrive a half hour late, an hour late, or if it would arrive at all,” said Councilor Flynn. “We can’t continue to normalize the chronic disruption for our school community, disregard the safety of our children, or downplay the negative impacts on quality of life for so many BPS families.” “I want to thank the families, students, and educators who came forward and told the truth about what they are dealing with every day on our Boston Public Schools buses. What we heard at the hearing is not a delay problem, it is a system failure. Parents are building their own backup transportation systems, coordinating carpools and last-minute rides, just to get their kids to and from school. Students are missing breakfast, missing
classroom instruction, and in some cases missing entire days of school because the bus is late, canceled, or never shows up. Families are missing work, paying out of pocket for rides, and scrambling to make it all work, while teachers and school staff are staying late after dismissal to make sure students are safe. This is an equity issue. The families who can figure it out will, and the families who cannot are the ones most impacted. We are spending nearly $200 million on student transportation, yet ridership continues to decline and the system is not getting better. The expectation is simple. Buses should show up, on time, every day. No parent in Boston should have to wonder if their child made it to school safely or is sitting somewhere unaccounted for,” said Councilor Murphy. For more information, plea se contact Councilor Flynn’s office at 617-635-3203 or E d . F ly n n @B o s ton .g ov.