bus attendants to ride along on all our special needs routes,” said Cathy Erwin, transportation director for Creighton School District in Phoenix. And budgets are far from covering all, or some,


costs associated with special needs transporta- tion. Only 4.5 percent of survey responders said they use between 75 and 100 percent of their budget for special needs transportation. Most, about 57 percent, use between zero and 25 per- cent of their overall budget.


TRAINING: WHAT, WHEN AND WHERE? Beyond the training that most pupil transport-


ers receive for general education routes, special needs drivers and attendants need more than basic skills to care for those with not only medi- cal needs but behavioral ones as well. Te loading and unloading of students, including during an evacuation, topped the list of training exercises performed, with about 94 percent listing evacua- tions as an essential instruction topic. Equipment training received almost 87 percent of the respons- es, followed closely by bullying and harassment training at 76 percent. Both sensitivity training and training on behavioral disorders were offered in 63.5 and 69.6 percent of the cases, respectively. Surprisingly, only 2 percent of contributors


responded that they receive their training at na- tional conferences. Almost 100 percent listed departmental meetings as the top spot for train- ing, and about 18 percent said they received their training at the state level in some form, whether that be at state conferences or from a state agency. Sometimes training takes on an extremely indi-


vidualized form. One district has taken the practice of house calls by doctors of the past to learn as much as possible about each student’s needs. “Many years ago we personalized the service by


making house visits for newly-enrolled students,” said Wayne Johnston,


transportation director


for the School District of Springfield Township in Oreland, Pa. “Tis eliminated the surprises on the first day of service by knowing what the needs of the students were prior to seeing them at the house or stop. Because this is a small community, we see the student throughout the school year and over the summer so our knowledge of each is constantly updated.” Others, like Troup County School System Di-


rector of Transportation Mark Lindstrom, borrow from national organizations to train their drivers. “We offer a specific Defensive Driving Class for


Special Needs drivers as offered by the National Safety Council. In addition to regular monthly training that is available to all drivers, we conduct


0-25% 38 School Transportation News Magazine February 2011 26-50% 56.8% 9.9% 4.5% 51-75% 76-100%


What type of special needs training do you offer? 100


20 40 60 80


0 Sensitivity Training


Loading, unloading and evacuation procedures


Equipment Training


Training on behavioral disorders


Bullying and harassment awareness training


How much of your operating budget is set aside for special needs transportation?


28.8%


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