Family of special-needs student fights for front-door bus pickup

<p>A Suffolk couple is fighting their school district for door-to-door busing to be provided for their 7-year-old non-verbal son with autism.</p>

News 12 Staff

Oct 16, 2017, 4:37 PM

Updated 2,550 days ago

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A Suffolk couple is fighting their school district for door-to-door busing to be provided for their 7-year-old non-verbal son with autism.
Teresa Kay's son, Noah, has to walk nearly two blocks from their Sound Beach home to get to the bus stop. His parents say he likes to run and will suddenly take off if they're not holding his hand.
"If something goes wrong for a split second, he's out in the road," says Noah's father, Corey Kay.
The Kays say because of Noah's disability, by law he is supposed to have a special bus pick him up and drop him off in front of his home. But the family says the district refuses to do that because they live in a private community in Sound Beach, called Scott's Beach Club.
In a statement to News 12, the Miller Place School District says  "…the private roads in Scott's Beach are too narrow, making navigating a commercial vehicle both impractical and, most important, unsafe."
But that response doesn't sit well with the Kays, who say the bus driver has written a letter to the school district saying that the roads are safe. They add that Noah has been picked up at his home before without incident.
"All summer long he gets picked up, it's not a big deal," Teresa Kay says.
News 12's cameras were rolling as a delivery truck, larger than the bus, navigated through the neighborhood with ease.
"We are not looking for anything above and beyond, just what Noah really is entitled to," Teresa Kay says.