School Begins, School Bus Safety Follows
By Stephane Babcock Whether it is the hot weather, the constant downtime or the fun-filled adventures,
summer can do a number on a kid’s memory. Te first day of school is filled with re- minders about curriculum, classroom etiquette and the ABCs and 123s of the previous and upcoming school year. For transportation departments, it is a time to re-train stu- dents on how to board, sit and act on the school bus. “Drivers know my expectations
for
student behavior and pass this on to stu- dents at the beginning of the year,” said Tom Simpson, transportation director for Gilmore City-Bradgate, Humboldt, and Twin River Valley Community School Districts in Northern Iowa. Simpson also uses October’s School
Bus Safety Week as a reason to refresh students on school bus dos and don’ts. During the nationally-recognized event, he meets with all Pre-K through fifth grade students in groups of 30 to 40 and goes over safety training and evacuation procedures. Middle school students are shown a video, while field-trip-only stu- dents are introduced to the drivers and given a brief safety talk. “Route riders have it reinforced on a
daily basis,” added Simpson. Parents are a big part of the equation
for some schools, including Head Start of Delaware County in Muncie, Ind. Stu- dents as well as their parents are given training about everything related to the yellow bus. Parents must watch a bus safety video, “A Safe Bus Ride: It All Begins With You,” while students are shown an age-appropriate video, taken to the bus and shown how to work their seat belts, according to Tammy Batt, the program’s transportation manager. “We encourage the students to try to fasten them, but the bus monitor helps those
who can’t,” said Batt. For national contractor First Student, safety training begins and ends with its drivers. “Our training is focused with assisting the school bus driver in understanding and
relaying the rules of the bus at the beginning of school to the students,” said Valjean Battles, a lead trainer and worker’s comp coordinator at First Student. And that training goes on throughout the year. Twice a month, special needs training
is offered as part of the drivers’ five-hour in-service safety training. Monitors are also given off-site training twice a year in a variety of subjects, including hands-on wheel- chair securement. In Bullhead City, Ariz., Transportation Director Victoria Guy brings teachers into the
mix. Guy makes sure that all teachers in Bullhead City Elementary School No. 15 go over what is expected of students on the bus. “We feel riding on the bus is an extension of the class and school,” said Guy, who also
works with the local fire department to include school bus rules into its annual training session with the students. n
JULY 24-28, 2010 NEXT YEAR! SEE YOU
www.schoolbusconference.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68