As a working mom of a 12-year-old boy with autism and ADHD, I was happy to see Colorado Politics coverage of SB22-144. Thousands of parents and guardians use HopSkipDrive for transportation services, but few were aware of the impact this legislation could have on their everyday lives. As covered by your recent article, “Advocates for kids with disabilities say bill regulating rideshare companies lacks safety provisions”, SB22-144 was necessary legislation to sort out potential gray areas of regulation, to ensure that HopSkipDrive continues to operate without interruptions and under strict safety guidelines. However, this article missed some important points and voices.

My son uses HopSkipDrive everyday. Each morning Sherry, a grandmother of seven children, pulls up outside our house in her Nissan Rogue. Sherry drives my son to another school district about 30 minutes away. It’s not ideal that he has to go out of his district for school, but it’s the best place to work with his learning differences. While he is on his way to school with Sherry, I have started my job at a COVID-19 testing company. I am able to work this schedule because the federal government mandates that children with learning disabilities have the option to set up an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) with their school. These IEPs are established between the parent and the school district, mapping out the child’s accommodations and agreeing on what they need to be successful. In my case, safe transportation to his new out-of-district school was part of his IEP. We did not add any specialized driver qualifications (like wheelchair tie-down training) into his IEP, because my child is a healthy kid without physical disabilities. From there, our school partners with a company to fulfill the ride requests and ensure our IEP is met.

Before our school partnered with HopSkipDrive we were using ALC Schools, which is regulated by the Colorado Department of Education (CDE). Both ALC Schools and the Colorado Cross Disability Coalition argue that they are “safer” because they are overseen by the CDE. CDE requires all their drivers to be trained almost the same as bus drivers. Although ALC drivers are picking up children in sedans, they must have training in how to properly unload and load a school bus, how to tow a trailer and how to carry chemicals and cleaning supplies. In theory, one might think the more training the better. Yet, in practice this has had a serious impact on the quality of service and has not enhanced safety.

ALC is notoriously understaffed and unreliable. Many mornings my son and I were left with no ride and no notification that ALC would not be picking him up. We would sit outside and wait and wait and then at the last minute I would need to drive him. I would apologize profusely to my company, miss about 45 minutes of important work at the most busy time of day, and hope it didn’t happen the next time. But it happened again and again. As a parent of a child with special needs, I was desperate for another option. HopSkipDrive fills that need.

Granted, some students do require specialized transportation by a highly trained operator. Those children should have drivers available for their rides. However, in the case of my child and thousands of other students like my child, we need to feel that our child is safe and that we have consistency and reliability in who takes our child to school. This is what we get with HopSkipDrive, which is regulated by the Public Utilities Commission (PUC). Their drivers go through a 15-point certification process, have five years of care-giving experience, and have a team of people tracking and watching each trip to ensure that the child gets picked up and dropped off at the right place and time. That kind of safety and reliability is a big improvement over our prior experience with drivers that did not match the needs of my child.

Thankfully, SB22-144 passed out of the state Legislature and now sits on Gov. Jared Polis’s desk. This will solidify HopSkipDrive as an option for school districts and parents. It is my hope he signs this legislation, so Sherry can still come each morning to get my son. It is also my hope that the news media includes the voices of parents like me. We need options! We need safety! We need transparency, and we definitely need reliability.

Frankie Lopez

Denver

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