2.3% 30.1% 67.7%


Has your operation recorded instances of bus drivers or aides being physically harmed by students with special needs with related emotional or behavioral issues?


Yes No


Other (please specify)


14.2% 3.0%


Do you serve students with special needs who rely on Diastat or other injections while riding the school bus?


29.1%


No Yes


0.8% 3.8% 7.5%


Besides school district/bus company employees, does your operation work with others in the community to act as special needs aides on the bus to address budget/ behavioral concerns?


88%


No Yes


I don’t know Other (please specify) I don’t know Other (please specify) 53.7%


local special education cuts mirror those affecting regular transportation, with the most cited issues impacting operations being the inability to replace buses and older equipment, encroachment on the general fund, increased time on the bus for students because of longer/consolidated routes and fewer new hires. “Although we transport all students who


have an IEP and require transportation, we are combing through each request very carefully to make sure it complies with in- zone capabilities,” said one transporter. “If a student can recieve help in zone, we will not transport out of zone. Te IEP commit- tee determines what is best in these cases.” “We have always been very creative with


our route specifications and therefore have been able to maintain without additional funds having to be budgeted when some- thing comes up that we weren’t originally notified about — such as new programs, overloads, etc.,” said another respondent. Te safety of school bus drivers and aides


is also a major concern. Nearly 68 percent said they have documented cases of trans- portation employees who were physically harmed by students with varying degrees of special needs related to behavioral or emo- tional issues. School bus operators have responded in several ways, but the most common methods include additional and consistent crisis intervention, de-escalation training for drivers and increased usage


of additional child restraints or bus aides. Other methods include reimbursing par- ents to provide transportation and training students and parents by implementing be- havior plans during the IEP process. One possibility is for school districts to


enlist the help of non-paid community members as aides on special needs buses, especially since there is not enough fund- ing available to pay aides. But 88 percent of survey responses indicated that they do not have partnerships with community members to act in this regard, compared with nearly 8 percent who said they do. Meanwhile, 53 percent said the num- ber of homeless students


transported increased during this school year, while www.stnonline.com 37


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