Crowdsourcing Solutions What exactly is the culture of school transpor-
tation, you ask? Most student transporters will respond with the word “safety.” True a major tenet of this profession is to ensure kids to and from school safely. Clearly that is part of the culture. But what about the opposite? Have you ever asked yourself, “Why the heck are kids punching us in the face?” If so, perhaps the ASPEN Training Module has an answer. Developed by Dr. Ben
Dr. Ben
Springer & Dr. Ben Belnap
ASPEN Training Module
Springer and Dr. Ben Belnap following 17 years of field testing in schools, buses and homes, ASPEN trains busy practitioners—drivers, attendants, school administrators—on how to prevent and respond to aggressive student behavior. Springer, a special education director for Wasatch County School District, and Belnap, a former school
Saturday, July 8
psychologist before transitioning to clinical work in private practice and the child/adoles- cent residential and day treatment programs at Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City, host the special four-hour session the afternoon of Saturday, July 8. Springer and Belnap said the philosophy behind ASPEN has less to do with individual departments with schools and more about working with chil- dren in general. Its core elements include the roots of aggression, what doesn’t work, prevention, helping kids be happier, behavior
management, and determining when an emergen- cy truly is one. Tese principles are designed to help school personnel, including drivers and attendants, to stay safe and liability free at school.
Further school bus safety and security training
is provided in two special sessions on Monday, July 10 by Jesus Villahermosa, Jr., founder and owner of Crisis Reality Training. Villahermosa is a former deputy for the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department in Tacoma, Washington, and for 30 years a member of that department’s S.W.A.T team. If anyone knows how to keep bus drivers, attendants and students safe on a school bus, it is Villahermosa. He said there are several
Villahermosa referred to “the hidden compo- Jesus Villahermosa, Jr.
Chrisis Reality Training
Monday, July 1o
major challenges facing administrators and school bus drivers, especially violence on the bus, personal safety issues and what drivers should be trained in. Most districts offer training in the technical aspects of school bus driving—pre- and post- trip inspections, evacuation drills, proper radio precautions, CDL, etc. —but what about a man- made crisis on the bus? What should a driver do if, for example, a noncustodial parent attempts to physically remove their child from the bus or the bus stop? What should bus drivers do in the instance of an unauthorized boarding attempt by someone with violent intentions? What should the driver do to protect students from an active shooter situation? Or, more commonly, how exactly should bus drivers respond to an on-board fight between students?
64 School Transportation News • JUNE 2017
nent” in driver training, whereas bus drivers often do not know they have a right to intervene, even when district’s or company’s have policies in place that they are not allowed to. Tey do, however, “Specifically in situations involving self-defense, de- fense of others, self-inflicted injury and destruction of property,” Villahermosa said, but pointing out still that only when the law allows. Moreover, the train- ing is called hidden because he said administrators typ-
ically have limited or no background in personal safety issues, so how can they offer training? Students have concerns too, Villahermosa
says. “For students, bullying is still a very big issue nationally, and the fact that buses force students to sit closely together just adds to their concerns,” he explains. Villahermosa will teach a session on the
“Defensible Use of Force on the Bus,” which he says “will absolutely clarify for anyone attending that session what rights they have on the bus as a driver should they or their students be put in imminent threat of harm.” A second session on July 10 covers “Active Killer Survival on the Bus” and will focus on body language recognition and student relationships to mitigate violence before it occurs on the bus.
CELEBRATING25YEARS
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