Students, a parent and a youth engagement coordinator told the Waterbury Board of Education on May 2025 that lack of reliable transportation is keeping students at Waterbury Arts Magnet School from participating in sports and that the district’s dress code limits student expression and can be unaffordable.

At the public comment period, Lewis McConner, 18, a senior at Wilby High School, told the board, “My transportation matters. I find it really unfair that I go to a school similar things, compared to WIMS, but they don't have the same benefits that I have in high school.” He said some students pay for Ubers or rely on parents because “the bus company [is] not either giving them the buses that they need to get to those places.”

The concern about sports transportation was raised by multiple students. Donnie Burton, 17 and a senior at Wilby High School, said transportation issues are affecting student participation and added that dress-code rules limit expression: “The bigger problem of dress code is that it takes away I personally feel it takes away our sense of expression.” Jabari Hendricks, a Williams freshman, said he does not want to join sports because he does not feel safe taking the city bus across town.

Unique Hendricks, a parent of two students at Williams, told the board she faces “so many barriers” securing transportation and communication between schools for her children’s participation in athletics. “We stop that, it's an increased burden on parents, the community, their family members,” she said, asking the board to “reconsider providing transportation for the students here.”

Amari Brantley, youth engagement coordinator and an advisor to the local youth-led project described at the meeting, said the group documented incidents where last-minute announcements disrupted student athletes. Brantley described a recent example: “At 01:40PM, right before dismissal, there was an announcement on the speaker that said all student athletes who take bus 6, please do not report to bus 6. And so with 10 minutes left in the school day… you have about 25 minutes to kind of find your ride.”

Brantley also raised dress-code concerns drawn from a student study, saying the group found that “57% of the dress code are actually … biased and implicit towards women,” and argued the district should consider affordability and flexibility. She asked the board to weigh how dress-code rules affect cultural expression and students’ ability to participate in extracurriculars.

The public comments were heard after the board temporarily suspended the regular order of business to allow public address. Commissioner O'Brien moved to suspend the agenda in order to hear speakers; the motion passed. During the suspension the board did not take formal policy action. The board stated in that procedural motion that public comments “will be referred to the administration for review and response.”

Speakers urged several specific changes: more reliable bussing for after-school sports (students noted an incident involving bus 6), clearer communication when buses are unavailable, and review of dress-code rules for affordability and cultural expression. Board members did not vote on policy changes during the public comment period; the speakers’ concerns were recorded and referred to district administration for follow-up.