INDUSTRY CONNECTIONS
District Suspends Middle Schoolers Who Bullied Elderly Bus Monitor Te Greece Central School District in Rochester, N.Y., said the four
middle school students who bullied bus monitor Karen Klein in a viral YouTube video will be suspended from school for one year and barred from “school and regular bus transportation.” Klein asked the Greece Police Department not to press charges against the boys. In June Klein appeared on several national news shows about
the the school bus video, which contains graphic language as the seventh-graders verbally harass Klein. “Te Greece Central School District has a strong bullying pre-
vention model that includes a district response team, training programs for staff and students,” the district said in a written statement. “Te behaviors displayed on this video are not repre- sentative of all Greece Central students.” Michael Martin, executive director of the National Association for Pupil Transportation (NAPT), said the national resolve against
‘Kadyn’s Amendment’ Passes U.S. House
Te U.S. House of Represen-
tatives passed an amendment that directs the National Highway Traffic Safety Admin- istration to allocate $10 million of
its budget toward helping
states enforce laws targeting motorists who illegally pass stopped school buses. Te National School Trans-
portation Association (NSTA) is tracking the legislation intro-
duced by Rep. Bruce Braley (D–IA), and said the House bill is expected to be reconciled with a Senate version. Braley’s amendment came on the heels of federal legislation he in- troduced in March known as “Kadyn’s Amendment,” which mirrors the newly passed “Kadyn’s Law” in Iowa. Tis state law was introduced in response to the death of 7-year-old Kadyn Halverson, who was struck and killed last year by a motorist who ignored a school bus with its red lights flash- ing and stop arm extended. Te first-grader was crossing the street from her baby sitter’s house to reach her bus when the driver of a pickup truck hit her. Braley’s bill would require all states to increase fines for
first-time offenders to $250 with the possibility of 30 days in jail. A second offense committed in the next five years would levy a fine from $385 to $1,875 and up to a year in jail. Te House has yet to act on this legislation. NSTA said it is continuing to work with Braley, as well as with Rep. Tom Latham (R-IA), to push the amendment forward.
14 School Transportation News Magazine August 2012
bullying gained added ground on June 28 with the launch of the bipar- tisan Anti-Bullying Caucus in the U.S. Congress. “NAPT has been intensely in-
volved the past two years in actions to prevent bullying on school buses, including working with the U.S. De- partment of Education on prevention strategies and offering training for school bus professionals,” Martin said. “Te school bus industry is commit- ted to cooperating fully with the caucus to make sure no student, school bus driver, monitor, or anyone else is the victim of this very pervasive and harmful behavior.”
Illinois Secretary of State Honored for School Bus Safety Program Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White
received the “Friend of Education” award from the Illinois Association of Regional Superintendents of Schools (IARSS) dur- ing its annual banquet July 12. IARSS President Dr. Robert Diaber
told School Transportation News that association members felt White had not been properly recognized for a career spent serving as a mentor to the state’s youth, especially for his Toby Tire School Bus Safety Program, a robot that interacts with pre-K through 6th-grade students in an entertaining and educational manner. Since the fall 1999 program launch, the state has not recorded an official student fatality in the school bus loading or unloading zone. White’s office said Illinois currently holds the record of being the
largest state with the longest-running record of no reported student fatalities around the bus stop. In addition, White is the longest-serv- ing secretary of state in Illinois history. He has served for nearly 13 consecutive years and has won re-election four times. “He has pioneered efforts to work with schools through his
incredible robot, Toby Tire,” said Daiber. “His policies have been in- strumental in reducing school bus accidents.” White began focusing on school bus safety after loading-zone
fatalities spiked in the eight years prior to his election, when 14 stu- dents perished in loading and unloading zone accidents. “Secretary White has continued to be an advocate for children,
public education and the safety of getting kids to and from school,” Daiber added.
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