EDITORIAL DESK While researching my “tool box” article in this issue, I received a response from STN
Editorial Advisory Board member, STN EXPO alumna, and NAPT director-at-large Launi Schmutz. She offered insight on a different set of tools, one that is more theoretical than it is tangible, unlike a socket set or a volt meter. “Te way we carry our tool box and the delivery of the content has changed im-
mensely. Sometimes we have so much access to information it becomes difficult to keep our tool boxes simple and organized,” wrote Schmutz. Tere are basic tools that any member of this industry — especially those on the front
Organizing Your ‘Tools’
By Stephane Babcock
lines — must have in their repository. Tose tools can come in the form of a smile to greet your first passengers every morning or an understanding ear when a frantic parent calls and wants to know where their child’s bus is. Tey can also be more complex, as in a set of procedures to follow when transporting children with specific needs or the multi- point inspections all school buses go through on a daily basis. No matter their origin, these tools create a safer, more structured environment for directors, drivers, monitors, mechanics and the children they transport. Te feature on page 50 also speaks about a useful, although at times frustrating, piece
of machinery that we have all had the pleasure (or displeasure) of dealing with — the computer. I have been working with computers since the mid-1980s, when my father brought home a huge box from Radio Shack that included a game called “Kung Fu.” It is the only memory I have of that computer, as it was the only thing I thought it could do. From there, we went through a number of computers in my household, including a few that I was able to completely wipe clean the memory. (Tis was before Microsoft Windows, when DOS reigned supreme…how did we ever survive?) Now, I wage a dif- ferent daily battle with my computer; some days are good, others not so much. But we somehow learn to meet in the middle most times. To many in the industry, the computer is an invaluable tool that gives them instant
access to updated rules and regulations, bus and parts pricing, local weather, and any number of school bus-related articles. It can also help bring people together to answer common questions or celebrate an affinity for the yellow bus. Last month, the industry observed its third inception of the American School Bus
Council’s “Love the Bus” campaign. Since its inaugural event, the ASBC has been hand- ing out “toolkits” to better prepare school districts to reach out to their communities and spread the message of the safest form of student transportation. It is a message that needs to be heard, especially at a time when school transportation has become the red- headed stepchild of district budgets. Te service is one that has become an automatic sacrificial offering in many budget disputes, at the risk of the children that it serves. Tis year, the ASBC has focused on the local stage rather than the national one, which
it had opted to do in the past. Tis grassroots plan could lead to a more grounded ef- fort that has the support necessary to push the message to the doorstep of Congress, furthering the effort to allow for the federal funding of school bus transportation. With the transit industry receiving billions of dollars of federal aid each year, the feds need to take notice of the yellow bus, everything that goes into it and how it, itself, is a tool to further the education of millions of children every day. No matter how you look at it, everyone needs to keep their tools up to date, without
forgetting about the ones that sit near the bottom of your toolbox; the ones that can come in handy when you’re trying to remove a starter, attempting to carefully discipline a student or spread word of a new proposed piece of state legislation that could have a negative effect on school transportation. Or, as Schmutz put it: “It is always important to remember and live by the basics or our foundation. Te word ‘basic,’ to me, means the necessities to get the job done.” n
66 School Transportation News Magazine March 2010
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