News
Student Transporters Share Post- Crash Consequences, Procedures
WRITTEN BY DEBBIE CURTIS
A National Transportation Safety Board photo of the Baltimore City Public Schools bus that collided head-on with a transit bus last November. NTSB concluded that a lack of school district oversight of the school bus contractor as well as the driver’s medical condition and previous history of crashes contributed to the incident.
W
hile much training emphasis is placed on preventing school bus crashes, student trans- portation managers must have a wide variety of procedures at their disposal to determine
consequences after the fact. Many have strict rules that they adhere to, with accident review committees in place. Meanwhile others, especially at smaller districts, have policies that consider each accident individually. Kalisa Gudelman, safety supervisor for the Woodland
Park School District’s transportation department northest of Colorado Springs, Colorado, has strict guidelines. “Any accident over one dollar (in damages) is subject to the whole nine yards. We fill out an accident report, the driver is suspended until a full investigation is implemented, and they do not return to the route until re-trained.”
20 School Transportation News • NOVEMBER 2017
C.A. Griffin of Casey County Schools in Liberty, Kentucky has
a response for nearly every scenario. “If we need a tow truck, or there is a citation or injuries, we drug test. If students were on the bus, I have a paramedic look at every student, and if anyone wants to go to the emergency room, we pay for it. We contact each par- ent, and the school nurse does a follow up,” he explained. “As far as taking the driver off the route, it depends. If they got rear-ended sitting at a stop light, that’s not something I’ll take them off the route for.” Griffin’s accident review committee consists of himself, the head trainer and the head mechanic. And all transportation employees are ready to drive a route if needed. “Everyone that works for me, right down to the secretary and even a couple monitors, has a license, because with the driver shortage, if I need a driver, I have one,” he added. “Tere’s a neighboring district where all the
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