File photo
A 2022 New Haven Climate Movement “Stop Climate Freefall” rally.
Young climate activists are calling again for the Board of Education to set aside funds for free bus passes for students to help New Haven’s public school district reduce air pollution and make it easier for students to get to and from school.
New Haven Climate Movement members issued that call at the Board of Education’s latest regular bikweekly meeting on June 26. In addition to the funding request for student bus passes, the students asked for a follow up meeting with the school board and district leaders to discuss New Haven Public Schools’ (NHPS) future plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and its carbon footprint.
The New Haven Climate Movement recently graded the Board of Education in May on its responses to climate-change-mitigation actions as apart of their adopted climate emergency resolution. Last Monday members of the group Zoomed into the meeting to follow up on those grades dished by specifically requesting the district transition away from non-electric bus use, reduce air pollution, and increase student use of sustainable public transportation by offering upper middle and high school students free city bus passes.
NHPS Chief of Operations Thomas Lamb provided an update on the district’s work related to the climate resolution at the same May meeting. He highlighted efforts like $2 million from NHPS’s capital allotment for energy management tasks and the district’s purchase of an electric“E‑vehicle” to be used by the food services department.
This most recent call for free bus passes for students follows the climate activist group’s request back in 2021 that the district provide free CTtransit bus passes to students. At the time the group said providing CTtransit bus passes would cost an estimated $200 per student per year for 2,000 students, totaling $400,000 per year, or $1.2 million over three years.
The public transit passes request comes against the backdrop of a one-year, $30.7 million school bus contract recently signed off on by both the school board and the Board of Alders. The school board previously voted down a multi-year transportation contract with the same company, First Student, which has resulted in the district paying nearly an extra $1 million for the approved 180 service-day contract. (Click here to read more about the failed multi-year contract.)
Watch Monday's meeting above - the recording does not include three public testimonies.
New Haven Climate Movement member and recent Wilbur Cross High School graduate Young In Kim requested in his public testimony on June 26 that the school board respond to the group’s request to meet to discuss future steps for an action plan to address the climate emergency resolution.
He called for the efforts be addressed with urgency because of recent local climate concerns that impacted New Haven when Canada’s forest fire smoke caused the city to have poor air quality. Drastic impacts like the air quality hazards “will happen more frequently because of climate change,” Kim said.
Yale PhD student and Climate Movement member Carolina Marques De Mesquita also gave public testimony requesting an update on next steps to follow through on the climate resolution promises made by the board. Marques De Mesquita asked if the board has set aside funding in its upcoming budget to hire an energy coordinator and other sustainability staff.
Rising Cross senior and climate movement member Rosie Hampson also requested clarity around Lamb’s presentation in May. Hampson said a meeting has been requested of district leaders since the start of June, but they’ve gotten no answer as of yet.
Hampson also requested a meeting with the districts’ new transportation director to discuss options around providing NHPS students with free bus passes to travel to and from school and after school programming.
“We would also like to talk to the board about the possibility of bus passes for NHPS students, as we feel this is a step which would greatly help to address the transportation point of the resolution, as well as be very beneficial to students and especially students from lower income families,” Hampson said.
She said she hopes to brainstorm ideas with district leaders around future sustainability efforts.
Climate Movement members at a recent Board of Ed meeting.
Rising Cross sophomore and Climate Movement member Manxi Han requested a meeting to gain clarity around the new transportation director’s responsibilities surrounding the emergency resolution.
Han added that in the past the group was told that the district allocated funds to provide free bus passes to students but when students made the request of their schools, students were told passes are only provided for students in after school programs or ECA.
“This results not only in a serious inconvenience for the students and their families but also forced students previously using city buses to switch to environmentally unsuitable alternatives which back tracks previous progress,” Han said.
Han said the student members aim is to get free bus passes for students this coming school year. They added that there’s been a visible drop in the number of NHPS students taking school buses recently.
When do they get rid of their phones and Internet and gaing consoles??? So far, this is asking for freebies.