INDUSTRY CONNECTIONS
School Bus Heroes Help Keep Kids Safe During Shooting Spree at Southern
California College After the Santa Monica College shooting rampage that ended five lives in June, news reports emerged about heroes who jumped in to lend a hand, including local school workers who made a differ- ence. Te school bus drivers, custodians, cafeteria workers, and other SEIU Local 99 members at the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District worked behind the scenes to ensure the safety of hun- dreds of nearby students. On June 7, suspected assailant John
Zawahri shot and killed his father and brother, carjacked a woman, fired at a public transit bus and killed three more at the junior college before police cornered him in the library and ended his life. As more details about the shooting
were released, Santa Monica-Malibu USD officials realized that not all of their students were safely inside “locked down” public school buildings. Some students were enjoying end-of-year events at area parks, while preschoolers were enrolled in programs at the Boys and Girls Club building next to John Adams Middle School, which is located directly in front of Santa Monica College. Immediately calls went out to school
bus drivers to transport these vulnerable children to safety, according to the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO.
Despite their coordinated response, the bus drivers and other school staff mem-
bers later insisted they were “just doing their job” when they calmly ensured the safety of hundreds of young children in schools neighboring the college. “Our transportation director had to guide me to the kids by radio because the incident triggered a lot of street closures,” said bus driver Latrice Elie, who has been with the district 21 years. “It felt good to know we were getting the kids to safety. My own kids used to ride on the school buses. So, to me, I feel like all the children on the bus are my kids. “In an emergency, you just get together as a group and do what you have to do.”
THOMAS BUILT RELEASES CALCULATOR FOR DETERMINING TOTAL COST OF VEHICLE OWNERSHIP Thomas Built Buses announced that it is
offering a total cost of ownership through its dealer network to allow customers to gauge real costs tied to fuel, maintenance, financing and capital costs regardless of the brand of school buses in their fleets. School buses are designed to last more than 20 years, even though this is not optimal from a safety and technology standpoint, Thomas said in a statement, but school dis- tricts may be forced to keep buses in service that long because of budget cuts. The total cost of ownership (TCO) calcula-
tor factors in these costs as well as expenses for parts, durability, corrosion repair, etc. “Adding newer school buses with better fuel efficiency to your fleet is a great way to save money and increase overall efficiency,” said Paul Start, market growth development manager for Thomas. “However, we at Thomas Built under- stand that not all fleets are ready to upgrade to newer buses. So, we want to give fleet manag- ers tools today that they can use to understand and lower their TCO.” Thomas Built CEO Kelley Platt said the
company’s bus dealers can now work with fleet managers to determine the factors with the most effect on a fleet’s overall cost of operation. This, in turn, helps fleet managers plan for the life cycle of each bus and take immediate steps toward lowering fuel and maintenance costs to stay within budget. "Put simply, our goal is to educate every
customer on how to run a more cost-effective fleet," she added.
NEW TEXAS LAW GIVES BUS DRIVERS MORE AUTHORITY TO
DISCIPLINE HIGH SCHOOLERS Problem kids in Texas be forewarned:
Now your school bus driver has the power to discipline you, much like a teacher. Under a new law Gov. Rick Perry signed in June, bus drivers can send disruptive passengers to the principal’s office. This spring, state Sen. Leticia Van de
Putte filed SB 1541, which aims to bolster the authority of school bus drivers to maintain safety and order on board. The bill requires each school district’s code of student conduct to specify the circum-
stances in which students may be removed from a school bus, and it affirms that drivers may remove a student to maintain effective discipline, according to the Texas chapter of the American Federation of Teachers. The organization credits Sen. Van de
Putte and the House author of companion bill HB 2367, Rep. Alma Allen, who shep- herded this legislation to passage. School bus drivers across the state lobbied
lawmakers to support the measure and ap- plauded its passage. Houston ISD drivers are
especially relieved because now they have recourse in handling disruptive students. Sometimes drivers would be punished
for complaining about problem kids, stated Wretha Thomas, president of the Houston Educational Support Personnel Union that represents most HISD bus drivers. “Instead of taking the student off the bus,
they were just removing the bus driver off the route,” she said. Added HISD bus driver Ruby Carter: “We need this law. We’re just fed up with the bullying.”
38 School Transportation News August 2013
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