02-07-2025
Parents furious at council decision to remove school transport from vulnerable Ayrshire kids
A petition was launched by one of the parents after East Ayrshire Council removed school transport for vulnerable children with ASN.
A heartbroken father has launched a petition after East Ayrshire Council removed school transport from children with additional support needs (ASN) for the rest of their school lives.
The decision affects pupils attending specialist schools such as Willowbank Primary in Kilmarnock, which caters for children with complex physical and learning support needs, as well as their families. Fraser Jardine, 36, started a petition after receiving EAC's refusal letter which was sent out on Monday, June 23. The letter stated that his daughter, Gracie, would no longer receive transportation to and from school for the remainder of her school life.
Nine-year-old Gracie has level five cerebral palsy due to a birth injury. She is non-verbal, unable to suck or swallow due to bulbar palsy and has epilepsy with regular seizures.
Gracie is entirely dependent on tube feeding and receives 20 individual medication doses per day administered via syringe into jejunostomy. She has increased muscle tone with poor circulation and temperature control, cortical vision impairment, bowel irregularity due to her brain damage and weak lungs requiring daily attention. Gracie also recently had hip surgery in April this year to carefully manage her hip displacement, scoliosis and curvature of the spine which needs to be carefully managed and can cause her pain when exposed to the cold.
Fraser, from Knockentiber, said: "In Gracie's situation, due to reports we had, her life expectancy is projected to be in her thirties, if she has the right therapies and physical, medical and environmental conditions in place. Gracie will be ten this year and to help her achieve this life expectancy and beyond she needs the best-case scenario in every situation through life giving her an optimum chance of reaching this goal which we are determined to see her get to.
"Gracie is fragile and her health can go downhill very quickly. She is at the forefront of our family in everything we do and she is our motivation and driving force in getting through life and succeeding as a family."
Gracie is currently getting a school bus every day with supervision. Fraser and his wife Amanda are deeply concerned and worried about the safety of getting Gracie and their other two children into school starting from August.
Fraser says he now faces having to push a wheelchair and carry a suction machine while potentially exposing Gracie to harsh weather conditions every day to drop off her and her siblings.
Moreover, Gracie's mum, a permanent makeup artist, will potentially have to change her available client booking for certain times which is a "roadblock for any parent".
Fraser said: "Gracie already has very weak lungs and requires multiple daily chest physio, daily PEP mask administration, daily inhaler administration and this is with very little exposure to cold, harsh weather as we are selective as to when we take her out to ultimately protect her health. My main concern is risk of seizures while Gracie is unattended which could have unimaginable consequences."
Fraser continued: "I think they are opening a huge can of worms here without proper thought.
"It's a sickening blow to who needs help the most. I am shocked, appalled and insulted at the decision and encourage them to see the bigger picture with common sense.
"In East Ayrshire Council strategic plan 2022-2027 one of the six strategic themes is to have a focus on 'improving community wellbeing and supporting children and young people' which is absolutely not the case and council have most certainly lost focus and failed miserably here." Fraser's petition to reinstate school transport for vulnerable ASN children already received over 2,000 signatures. Another Willowbank parent Sarah Fox, 34, from Lugton, joined the petition as she was "shocked" to see a refusal letter in her email inbox. Sarah's 11-year-old son Corey has 2two rare genetic conditions that affect his mobility, speech and learning. He uses a wheelchair full-time, is non-verbal and requires constant supervision. Sarah said: "It never occurred to me that the council would actually refuse children transport to school. Especially vulnerable children with additional needs. I felt a lot of things that day, sadness, anger and anxiety to name a few.
"I would like to add that this refusal hasn't been applied to children in mainstream schools. Why? Are ASN children less deserving of transport to school? They are the ones that need it the most. "Just shows how much EAC thinks of the ASN community." Corey enjoys his bus journey to and from school every day and has great relationships with his bus guide and driver. When the school goes back in August, Sarah and her husband will struggle with a lack of transport. She explained: "My husband and I start work before the school day starts and finish after it ends. Both of us are unavailable to take him to school and pick him up again. "If I was able to cut my hours, and financially I'm not in a position to do so, I will need to drive 25 minutes each morning to school, since Willowbank is our closest ASN school, and then an extra 25 minutes to get to work from the school. "I would need to drive nearly 2 hours each day. With arthritis in my knee and lipedema in my legs, this is going to be physically challenging for me. Corrie-Beth Jeffrey, 29, from Crookedholm, is also concerned about her son Oliver who is only six-years-old. Corrie-Beth said: "Oliver is non-verbal autistic. Non-verbal meaning he can't speak at all apart from repeating some words back to us, he has difficulty communicating his emotions so he has meltdowns.
"Our lives have to revolve around Oliver's routine, things can become very overwhelming for him so if we are out and he starts to become worked up we have to leave. Oliver also doesn't sleep at night. He has a prescription of melatonin but this only puts him to sleep at night and he will still wake up around 3/4am and be full of energy, this can also impact our day because I need to be up with him to make sure he is safe.
"I also have an older son at nine-years-old so I am juggling my time between the two of them so my oldest can live as normal as possible life." Oliver had a taxi to and from school for two years now. His mum said it is a part of his routine in the morning which he loves.
Corrie-Beth claims she received a letter from the council explaining that her son won't qualify for a taxi anymore as they live within a three-mile walking distance.
She said: "The way they worded the refusal surprised me, they told me walking routes from our house to Oliver's school was safe for him to walk either accompanied or unaccompanied. My son can't speak, he has no understanding of road safety and lives in his own little world but can walk to school by himself apparently. They have no idea how challenging the world can be for our children. I think this is why we are all so ready for a change to happen.
"I do not drive yet so I would have no other way of getting him to school apart from a bus and public transport is not something he feels safe in due to it being overcrowded."This decision will impact our lives so much. Most mornings Oliver can become very overwhelmed causing a meltdown, Oliver's meltdowns include hitting into his own head and biting into his hands, he flings himself to the ground and will uncontrollably cry.
Corrie-Beth continued: "I am hoping EAC will look at our argument and see how much their decision is going to affect our children's life. The best outcome is that they work out a solution so that our children can be kept safe and protected on their journey to school.
"I personally feel transport should be put back in place for the children of Willowbank School and any child living with complex needs."
A spokesperson for East Ayrshire Council said: "On March 12, 2025, Cabinet agreed an Alternative School Transport policy for academic year 2025/ 26.
"This decision was necessitated by the fact that as of September 30, 2024, 601 children and young people were approved for home to school journeys at a total daily cost of £22,800, which equated to a projected overspend of £2,414,133 for alternative school transport for 2024/25.
"The new Alternative School Transport policy will protect the sustainability of alternative transportation where there is an essential need.
"As agreed by Cabinet, a full audit has been undertaken by the Transport Review Panel and letters issued to parents and carers advising of the outcome of the audit. A second letter has since been issued to parents and carers to clarify the process.
"The council asks that if parents and carers believe that there are circumstances that have not been considered and which may affect the decisions taken, they have the right to request a review.
"Parents and carers should submit a written request to ASNAdmin@ within 10 days of receipt of their first letter and must include relevant additional information or evidence.
"Through this review process, which will continue over the summer, the council will look to identify common issues, particularly those related to schools and centres with later start times, as there may be actions at a school level that can be taken to mitigate any potential impact on working parents and carers.
"To conclude, the council can confirm that the review process has not been completed therefore no parent or carer is in receipt of a final decision. Any further family circumstances provided to the council will be fully considered."
The petition started by Fraser can be found here.
