EDITORIAL DESK One word can have numerous meanings. Whether it be in an article, during a conversation or in
an e-mail, sometimes the meaning you intend does not translate to the other person. As a husband and a father, I have made the mistake too many times to count. As a writer, I can remember times when what I intended to write did not make its way onto the printed page. During my last semester in college, I worked for a weekly newspaper that dealt with legislative
Learning for Life
By Stephane Babcock ❝
and related issues. Tere was a piece of proposed legislation that dealt with a dairy compact, which would have regulated the wholesale price of milk in New York state and helped preserve the eco- nomic viability of dairy farming. It was something I had never heard of and knew nothing about, except for what a senator’s aide had told me. I wrote about the bill, but I gave it an unintended slant toward the supporting side. Te same day the paper was delivered, I received a stern phone call from a local farmer who had
taken time out of his extremely busy day to explain everything that I did not understand about the legislation, which turned out to be a lot. He was sympathetic to my lack of knowledge and treated my mistake as one that could be chalked up to youth and inexperience. Tat was more than a decade ago; but, from time to time, I find myself in a very similar situation.
Life is an evolutionary journey, and we should all take advantage of every situation that can teach us something new about ourselves and the world around us. ❞
Luckily, I tend to fix it myself before the article is published. Still, the root cause is often a lack of knowledge. I try to tell my children — every time they groan about getting out their homework — that life is about learning, and they should take advantage of every opportunity offered to them. As much as they can complain at times, I see a passion for knowledge in them that should be taken as a lesson to others, myself included. You are never too old to learn. Tis goes beyond joking about “teaching an old dog new tricks.” Life is an evolutionary jour- ney, and we should all take advantage of every situation that can teach us something new about ourselves and the world around us. One such op- portunity available to everyone in this industry is training, whether it be at a national or state conference, at your lo- cal transportation department or even over coffee with a fellow driver after an
especially tough route. Tere are, of course, varying degrees, but even the smallest lesson can pay off big in the end. Tis month, we highlight training in our article on wheelchair restraints that will be available at
this year’s disabilities conference in Orlando. While each company involved brings their training to the local level, this conference gives them the opportunity to reach a mixed crowd from all over the country. Te importance of learning is further echoed in the pieces on both fire safety training on the
small bus and a piece of proposed federal legislation that could force companies to review how they use the term “restraint” with their products. Fire safety is no small matter, no matter the size of the bus, and with the deadline for NHTSA’s final rule on seat belts looming in the near future, school districts must think ahead of how they will teach their students to evacuate in case of a fire. Ten there’s the Preventing Harmful Restraint and Seclusion in Schools Act (H.R. 4247), which
would limit the use of restraint and seclusion in schools. It includes an exemption for child safety restraint systems used during student transportation, in itself worthy of the industry’s attention. But some are also calling for a proactive effort to train parents and other parties included in the IEP process on the difference between seclusion and restraint techniques used to protect some students from themselves and child safety restraints designed to keep student passengers safe on school buses. I (hopefully) have many years of learning ahead of me. And to those who have taught me some important lessons along the way, I can only say “thank you.” n
58 School Transportation News Magazine February 2010
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