Kelly Trickett called police after her 5-year-old son Ben did not come home from his first day of kindergarten at Connery Elementary School — and stayed missing from her sight for roughly two hours after the school day ended. Ben, who has a communication disorder and is enrolled in a special needs program, rides a bus with about a dozen other special education students to and from his southern Lynn neighborhood school, which sits roughly a mile and a half from his home.
According to NBC Boston, Trickett could not determine where her son's bus was and eventually called police before Ben's bus finally pulled up. Staff told her the delay was due to it being the first day of school. Trickett and her family had tried repeatedly to reach someone for answers, and NRT — the transportation provider for Lynn Public Schools — was already a familiar name to her family from prior school years.
The delays did not end there. Trickett told the outlet that transportation problems continued into Wednesday, when Ben was picked up from home after the school day had already begun and did not arrive back home until about an hour after school let out. Trickett, who works alongside her husband, said the ongoing issues raised both safety concerns and worries about her son's access to services.
Car Seat Allegation Goes Unaddressed
Trickett also alleged that Ben, who weighs less than 30 pounds, was transported without a car seat she says his special education program requires. Lynn Public Schools did not specifically address that allegation, according to the same NBC Boston report, and NRT likewise did not answer questions about what caused the delays or what steps were being taken to fix them.
The allegations also raise questions about child-restraint and special-education transportation requirements.
District Says It Logs Every Complaint
Christina Colella, Lynn Public Schools' director of special education, said the district will follow up and resolve the transportation issues quickly. The district said it logs all transportation complaints and follows up with vendors as necessary, and that it expects its vendors to provide safe, timely transportation compliant with students' IEPs. Lynn Public Schools contracts with multiple transportation vendors for special education students, though NRT holds the primary contract.
NRT, for its part, said safe and reliable transportation is its top priority and that it works closely with the district to address route issues. It joined the Ohio-headquartered Beacon Mobility family of transportation companies in 2021, part of a corporate network that, per an April 2026 Federal Register filing, includes 23 affiliated transit operators directly controlled by Van Pool Transportation and indirectly controlled by Beacon Mobility.
A Vendor Already Under Scrutiny
The delays land just weeks after Beacon Mobility, NRT's parent company, agreed to a $2.4 million settlement with the Massachusetts Attorney General's office over allegations it colluded with a competitor between 2022 and 2025 to divide up municipal special education bus contracts in Lynn, Dedham, and Saugus — inflating prices and undercutting competitive bidding, as Hoodline previously reported. Lynn Mayor Jared Nicholson publicly criticized Beacon Mobility and NRT following that settlement, calling the arrangement a corrupt exploitation of the city's efforts to transport vulnerable special education students, according to the Massachusetts Attorney General's office.
The concerns add to scrutiny of NRT's transportation operations.
A Large District With High Stakes
Lynn Public Schools serves the Lynn community. Connery Elementary, where Ben started kindergarten, is the school he attends.
For Trickett, the fix is simpler than any settlement or regulation: better communication with families when something goes wrong. She wants to know where her son is when the bus is running late — and whether the equipment he needs to ride safely is actually on board.
