High Scores A March 12 presentation followed
up on providing transportation in the Least Restrictive Environment, or LRE, a main tenet of IDEA, and the elimination of curbside transpor- tation and other options as cost-re- duction strategies in special needs transportation, which the presenters said does not have to break the bank. Operational flexibility saves money,
said Pete Meslin, transportation direc- tor of Newport-Mesa School District in Costa Mesa, Calif., and a confer- ence advisor, who was one of three presenters and also presented at the travel education general session. For example, he said school districts could enter into shared service agreements with neighboring districts for routing, vehicle maintenance, substitute driv- ers and other operational areas to help save money. Some obvious (chang- ing bell times) and not-so-obvious (reducing multiple service addresses) options were also outlined.
2013 National Special Needs Team Safety Roadeo winners, from left: Robelyn Watson and Cynthia Wright (3rd place); Myra Walstead and Jesse Hill (1st place); Rhonda Fiddler and Susan Nulph (2nd place).
The event was held Saturday, March 9, at the Frisco Frisco In- dependent School District training facility, located about six miles away from the site of the TSD Conference, and was sponsored once again by wheelchair securement companies Q’Straint and Sure-Lok. This year also marks STN Media's new partnership with NAPT to co-produce and co-manage the roadeo, taking over for previous conference producer Edupro Group and conference chair Roseann Schwaderer. The Roadeo featured 16 teams from 11 states. Second-place fin- ishers were Rhonda Fidler and Susan Nulph of Cherokee County (Ga.) Public Schools while third-place finishers were Robelyn Watson and Cynthia Wright of San Diego Unified School District. All teams were honored Saturday evening during a banquet. Judges scored the teams on how well they completed a
t
STN Media Group acquired the TSD Conference last spring from conference founder Roseann Schwaderer, owner of Edupro Group. She continued this year as conference chair.
John Benish, also a conference
advisor and president and COO of Cook-Illinois Corp., gave attendees the OK to question certain practices for cost-cutting’s sake. An earlier session on March 10 discussed other challenging gray areas of special needs transportation under compliance, operations and training when dealing with students and parents. Presenters Meslin and Wolf provided measures to take when best practices clash with each other, when conflicting laws apply to the same situation, and what to do æ
42 School Transportation News April 2013
written exam as well as hands-on, behind-the-wheel drills on an obstacle course. The teams navigated buses through a ser- pentine course, displayed their backing skills, and navigated a mock railroad crossing, bringing the bus to a complete stop and opening the doors to look for an oncoming train. Participants also performed pre-checks of their buses, loaded and unloaded occupied wheelchairs via the wheelchair lift, timed emergency evacuations and managed challenging student behavior scenarios. Teams also were tested on how well they secure children, represented by dummies, on the bus. Even before the roadeo began Saturday morning, the teams received training on proper wheelchair securement, emergency evacuations and child passenger safety restraints to supple- ment their experience. Frisco ISD also received a special plaque of recognition during the banquet. Roadeo coordinator Cheryl Wolf said Doug Becker, Frisco ISD’s director of transportation, and Koreen Sev- erance, the district’s assistant director of transportation, as well as the rest of the transportation staff “were absolutely phenom- enal to work with.” “They have a beautiful facility that was more than adequate
to house our scoring team, judges and contestants as well as spectators,” Wolf said. “They provided top-notch equipment for our contestants to use for driving the road course and other stationary events.”
he team of Jesse Hill and Myra Walstead of Academy School District 20 in Colorado Springs, Colo., came in first place with 957 points out of a possible 1,002 points at the 16th annual National Special Needs Team Safety Roadeo.
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