solutions to their transportation issues. “Te conference was an excellent source
of new information,” said STN EXPO co- chair Steven Huillet, director of pupil transportation and fingerprinting with the Oregon State Office of Finance and Administration and the western regional director for NASDPTS. Also co-chairing the conference was Pamela McDonald, director of transportation for Orange County (Calif.) Unified School District. “From the keynote speakers, classroom
sessions, social events and the vendors and suppliers, the STN EXPO was a complete package. Tere was something for every- one,” McDonald said. Many attendees echoed McDonald’s
statement, including school bus drivers who noted new technology on school buses as the biggest eye-opener for them. “I’ve been driving for 35 years, and we
didn’t have all this stuff when I started out,” said Dana Fairchild, a driver for the Acalanes Union School District in Moraga, Calif. By “stuff,” she meant video surveillance sys- tems, GPS, upgraded mirror systems and other new innovations that not only en- hance student safety, but also can help her do her job more efficiently. After walking the one-day trade show
on July 24, Debra Caschke, a seven-year school bus driver for Enterprise Elementary School District in Redding, Calif., spotted a company that offers a camera system spe- cially designed to capture photos of drivers who illegally pass school buses. “Tose are the things that we wouldn’t
have to worry about now, having to look out our windows and report people,” she said. “We can concentrate on our job and do what we need to be doing, which is driving the kids to school.” As with technology trends, the educa-
tional sessions offered a comprehensive look at the issues student transporters face, said Jose Dives, transportation di- rector for Magnolia (Texas) Independent School District. “With the sessions the show staff puts
together, it’s interesting to see the different trends,” he said, specifically mentioning how school districts are financing their fleets versus outright purchases. “Tey are financing them at 1 to 2 percent and, in the long run, they end up saving money.” Dannetta Tate, health coordinator for
Muscogee Creek Nation Head Start in Okmulgee, Okla., has been attending the STN EXPO for the past six years for the Head Start sessions. “Coming here, I can get what we need
for Head Start and take it back to our program,” she said.
LOOKING AT THINGS IN A NEW WAY
into our visual acuity to “hear” loud colors and familiar word constructs that are easy to process. Using a PowerPoint presentation, he
demonstrated how, using current school bus markings, the human eye is not drawn to the message on the back of the school bus that motorists should see, namely “Stop When Red Lights Flash.” He said the letter- ing “School Bus” is unneeded because even a 4-year-old child instinctively knows the yellow vehicle is a school bus. Instead, that area between the flashers is where verbiage should instruct motorists to heed the lights. “Relocating and reformatting school
bus safety markings are a proactive way to improve driver compliance and poten- tially reduce illegal passing and passenger injury,” Bollen said. Session attendee and STN EXPO pre-
The NHTSA Child Passenger Safety Restraint Systems on School Buses pre- conference seminar on July 21.
Before attendees headed into the meat
and potatoes of the Head Start, Business Management, Maintenance, Safety & Se- curity, Special Needs educational tracks, they heard an interesting general session focused on how the human eye processes current school bus lettering. Te first general session held July 23,
“Te Most Recognizable Vehicle in North America: Cognitive Research on School Bus Markings,” drew gasps from the con- siderable audience. Shmuel Bollen, a senior user experience
designer for ACI Worldwide, offered infor- mation design as the key to grabbing and retaining the ever-wandering attention of motorists around school buses by tapping
senter Ted Finlayson-Schueler of industry consultancy Safety Rules!, said the let- tering is an example of the “way we’ve always done things,” but that can counter common sense. Several members of the National Congress on School Transpor- tation expressed to Bollen and STN staff their interest in taking up the issue at the 2015 meeting in Warrensburg, Mo. Addi- tionally, NASPDTS brought up the topic to the School Bus Manufacturers Techni- cal Council during an on-site meeting. A July 24 general session, “Deal or No
Deal: Meeting Parent Challenges,” ex- amined potential outcomes student transporters might expect when dealing with demanding parents. Led by Peggy Burns, Esq., owner of Edu-
cation Compliance Group, she noted that transportation directors should protect students, and themselves, by preventing parents from signing away the rights of their children by offering to sign a waiver that might violate district policy or state law. Te cautionary words came in response
to a question about a parent who did not want her special needs student to wear a shoulder strap because she feared it might interfere with the child’s tracheotomy tube.
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