Chicago teen with autism misses weeks of school amid CPS transportation dispute

Well, weeks without school, and a mother says that her son is losing ground. She's fighting CPS for safe transportation for her child who has autism. Now, she wants the state to investigate. Tia Ewing has the story. It's okay, babe. Get in. Okay. Seatbelt. Okay. Before the lesson. I have to redirect him quite a few times. The first hurdle. Okay, Tonio, get into school, make a right on 43rd and come back up to the house. Acacia Academy is about 20 miles from home, but drop off, home, pick up and home again adds up. Well, it's total of 79 miles a day that I'm driving to take my son to school and to pick him up. Now, Teresa Morrison says she can't afford the drive and her son's education is at a standstill. Antonio Cunningham is 15, a 10th grader with autism. His mother says Chicago Public Schools pays for his therapeutic placement and aid. Acacia is maybe a month because he has a personal aid, a little bit under $6,000 a month. But getting him here from Bronzeville to LaGrange Highlands requires more than a bus assignment. No, he can't get on a traditional school bus. He becomes dysregulated, he becomes irritated, and there may be some self-harm going on. In her SUV. If you become overstimulated, have to pull over, calm him down, things like that. Fox 32 found CPS acknowledged the bus safety concern more than a year ago in an email dated September 23rd of 2025. Morrison says her driving reimbursements sometimes reach $1,100 to $1,200 a month. The reimbursement monthly sometimes is from like $1,100 to $1,200 or a little bit more monthly. For a transfer in Antonio, the hearing officer ordered mileage reimbursements for this school year, but Morrison says the problem remains. She must drive first, get paid later. I don't know what to do because I don't have the income. I've been borrowing money from my family and friends and everything. She filed a federal lawsuit that was dismissed. The judge, Jorge Alonso, found she filed before completing the administrative process and then later reimbursement order made her request moot. Morrison has now opened an investigation with the Illinois State Board of Education. You know, he's going to be grown in a second and I can't get these days back. And this investigation process could take some time as Antonio enters a fifth week of missed school. Any interruption with him at school, it would affect his progress. So he goes year-round. Tia Ewing, Fox Chicago. Chicago Public Schools tells us all of their schools are committed to providing a physically and emotionally safe teaching and learning environment, as well as safely transporting students that are, quote, eligible for transportation in accordance with state laws and guidelines.