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School Transportation News Magazine is published by STN Media Group
WHAT WOULD YOU DO?
Regarding the Florida school bus driver and the students fighting on the bus that is all over the news (“Caught on Tape,” page 34 of the September edition), the driver acted totally correctly. At Laidlaw, my directive to all drivers was to never get involved in a student fight. Instead, shout “Stop fighting or I will call the police!” Ten call the police. Never — repeat — never try to stop the fight or touch or pull apart the fighters — never. Even if they are killing each other. You are a bus driver,
not a policeman or a security guard or a trained fight stopper. Jeff Cassell, President
School Bus Safety Company Former VP of risk management at Laidlaw Education Services STN
Publisher Tony Corpin
Editor Ryan Gray
Managing Editor Sylvia Arroyo
Creative Consultant Vincent Rios
Senior Designer Kimber Horne
Graphic Design Maria Molina
Copy Editor Michelle Fisher
Technical Editor Robert T. Pudlewski
Via Linkedin: Did Pinellas County, Fla., school bus driver John Moody do all he could during the school bus fight caught on surveillance tape?
Drivers should be trained to
protect other students from injury and protect themselves. If bus staff are not provided a refresher of their role in potential violence while transporting students with collaboration with school staff, the student will be the victim 95 percent of the time. Michael Dodson, founder Dodson Transportation Consulting Services
It depends on the policy of the
district. Our district says to step in if you feel you can break it up safely. In this case, I would not be able to and would have to call for help... from the boss and police. I would also be allowed to pull the other students off the bus to make sure they were not in the middle of the fight. Te safest thing most in my department would be able to do is to pull over, get the other kids off the bus while calling for back up. Not many of our drivers would be able to stand up to three 15-year-old boys.
Shari Weber, secretary, transportation Gunnison (Colo.) Watershed School District
I can sum it up in four initials:
ACLU. Tat driver, if he would have touched one of the bullies, would have been charged with assault on the bully. Dammed if you do, dammed if you don’t. Brats have more rights than those they attack or (who are) in charge to keep them under control. Bob Dippold, bus driver First Student
Te driver took the appropriate
action, in my option. If he had intervened, he would have placed himself and other students in potential danger. I think this is a real case of school administra- tion not communicating with transportation staff and taking the appropriate action for their employees and the students. Te student who was beaten had made a report to the school that the other students had attempted to sell him drugs at school. One question: Why were these stu- dents allowed to leave the school on the bus? Rosalyn Vann-Jackson, assistant director of transportation Tulsa (Okla.) Public Schools
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Linda Bluth, Peggy Burns, John Whelan, Ned Einstein, Art Gissendaner, Julie Metea, Eric Woolson
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Ad Sales Tony Corpin
Circulation Andrea Hernandez
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Chairman of the Board Bill Paul, STN Media Group
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EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD:
Denny Coughlin, Consultant; Judith Dupille, Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles; Dick Fischer, Trans-Consult; Ron Love, Delaware DOE; Randy McLerran, National Bus Sales; Pete Meslin, Newport-Mesa Unified; Nancy Netherland, Migrant- Seasonal Head Start; Marshall Casey, Consultant; Alexandra Robinson, NAPT; Launi Schmutz, Washington County
Schools
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8 School Transportation News October 2013
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