INDUSTRY CONNECTIONS
ALABAMA BILL STRENGTHENS PENALTIES FOR SCHOOL BUS TRESPASSING
Earlier this year, Alabama state Sen.
£ The 2014 model-year Blue Bird All American rear-engine Type D bus.
Smoother Running
UTAH SCHOOL DISTRICT IS ONE OF 30 SELECTED FOR THE EPA’S PILOT SCHOOL BUS REBATE PROGRAM
WRITTEN BY SYLVIA ARROYO
Brenan Jackson, assistant superintendent of student services at South Sanpete School District in Manti, Utah, is content to be able to replace one of his 1994-model-year buses thanks to money awarded to his district under the EPA’s 2012 School Bus Replacement Rebate Program. South Sanpete was one of 30 school bus fleet applicants selected by the EPA under the pilot rebate program that’s part of the Diesel Emission Reduction Act (DERA) grant program. In January 2011, DERA was reauthorized through fiscal year 2016, and one major change in the reauthorization gave the EPA the authority to award rebates. Te program offers incentives for eligi- ble applicants to replace older school buses with newer buses powered by certified 2012 or newer engines. Te program also made funds available directly to private contractors under contract to local public school districts.
Officials said the agency received more than 1,000 school bus applicants asking for more than $70 million for the $2 million allocated for the program. All 30 applicants were randomly selected after being given a unique identification number, and then were placed in order on a list.
30 School Transportation News March 2013 Jackson said the district received $30,000
to purchase a 2014 Blue Bird 78-passen- ger All American Type-D school bus. Te amount awarded was dependent upon the type of bus an awardee would purchase. He added that in his eight years at the district, this was the first time the district had applied for funds under an EPA program, and he would do it again. “Te process was not that rigorous …
there were a few hoops to jump through, but as far as the paperwork goes, the process was fairly simple,” he said. “If (the EPA) continues to offer this program, I plan on applying each year. I think it was worth the process.” South Sanpete has 30 yellow buses in its fleet and transports an average of 3,000 students to and from school daily. Located in a rural area about 125 miles south of Salt Lake City, the district will be using the newly purchased bus for long-haul athletic and activity trips, which sometimes last three to four hours one way. “Having a bus that’s highly efficient and extremely healthy for the environ- ment running many miles, plus morning and afternoon runs, is important to us,” Jackson said.
Cam Ward pre-filed SB15, which would strengthen penalties for trespassing on school buses, in response to the shoot- ing at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December. He made the move after having proposed an identical bill last September that died because apparently it was filed too late. In a January meeting with Joe Lightsey,
director of student transportation at the Alabama State Department of Education, Ward presented a list he had compiled showing at least two-dozen incidents in the state when unauthorized people had board- ed school buses, several of them parents. In the aftermath of the Jan. 29 Midland
City shooting of school bus driver Charles Poland, Jr., and the kidnapping of a young boy on the bus, the bill received a favor- able report out of a Senate committee on the first day of the regular session. At this writing, Lightsey said SB15 was expected for a Senate vote, and action had yet to take place for a companion house bill. Te measure would make it a crime for an unauthorized adult to board a school bus, to vandalize a bus or to enter a bus with the intention of causing damage. It also would establish a misdemeanor punishable by county jail time. Te bill’s misdemeanor charge was amended from a Class B to a Class A. Tis change increases the maximum penalty fine from $3,000 to $6,000 as well as the maximum county jail time served from six months to one year, said Lightsey. Supporters contend the bill is not intended to be the ultimate solution to school violence, but it would stop incidents from turning worse by establishing a first line of defense against harming students on the bus. “When I was in Dale County in Mid-
land City, some of the talks among school officials were, ‘Why isn’t [trespassing on school buses] a felony?’” Lightsey explained. “I understand that if you put the penalty too high, it won’t pass the legislature. You get push back there.”
— Sylvia Arroyo
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