AN
ANALYSIS
‘Industry Standards’ Are More than Jargon
By Linda F. Bluth, Ed.D Te concept of “standards” is frequently discussed in many industries, and ours is no excep-
tion. I’d bet the vast majority of people involved in school transportation believe we already focus on achieving the highest available standards when transporting our nation’s children to and from school in school buses. But do we really? During the past year, I reviewed 14 versions of the “National School Transportation Specifications
& Procedures.” My goal was to analyze changes in our standards over the last 72 years and think about what we can do as an industry to enhance confidence among our consumers. It was a fasci- nating project that sharpened my focus on improving the way we do things. Since 1939, the school transportation industry has made a voluntary effort on a scheduled basis
to assemble and discuss an extensive menu of topics including: School Bus Types; Bus Body and Chassis Specifications; Specially Equipped School Bus Specifications; School Bus Inspection; Alter- native Fuels; Operations; Activity Bus Operations: Transportation Other than to and from School or Head Start; School Transportation Security and Emergency Preparedness; Transportation for Students with Disabilities and Special Health Care Needs; and Transportation for Infants, Toddlers and Preschool Children.
❝ Today’s transportation challenges require excellence to
sustain the respect and confidence we worked so hard to receive from our customers and constituents. ❞
Attendance at these national conferences, now known as the National Congress on School
Transportation, is wide-ranging with dedicated industry participants from national associations, and official representatives from state departments of education, public safety, motor vehicles and other agencies that are responsible for the administration of student transportation. In addition, there are representatives from local school districts, contract operators and multiple professional organizations and groups. I have attended four of these conferences myself, beginning in 1995. Traditionally, each conference builds upon past conferences, resulting in
multiple recommendations adopted from participants and constituents working in committees that meet for multiple years prior to the actual conference. Discussions and recommendations have ranged from early consensus to heated debates that are resolved on the conference floor. When all is said and done, the proceedings are collated and published. Te most recent conference document contains 543 pages of information; the first conference publication in 1939 was just 46 pages. Te increased breadth and depth of this document over the past seven decades is as-
Bluth says a common belief throughout the industry is that current standards are enough to keep students safe and parents happy. Does this mirror reality?
58 School Transportation News Magazine October 2011
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