FEEDBACK Teacher-School Bus Disconnect? Just finished reading the article “Driver Tools” on empowering school bus


drivers in the October 2017 STN. It is great to have an “Award-winning educator (Stacey Bess)” as the NAPT Summit keynote speaker in Columbus, Ohio on Nov. 10. But will someone please review what she plans to say to “empower” school bus drivers? My 51 years in the industry has found me attending far too many conferences, seminars, meetings and the like where speakers address school bus drivers telling them what they should do, while being somewhat clueless as to what they can do. Tere is little worse than the audience of school bus drivers whispering amongst themselves saying “we can’t do that,” as the speaker fills them with their wonderful ideas. In this case, I’m speaking specifically about paragraph four, (page 63) that says: “My focus is on how we can impact most vulnerable children. If you see a child starving every morning, have a granola bar and a smile.” So what’s wrong with this “empowering” idea? I hope it struck you as quickly as it did me that for well over a decade now, virtually all training given school bus drivers has emphasized you cannot give your students things to eat! Aside from choking or allergies and other medical conditions prohibiting it, have you ever tried to explain to a student’s parent you gave their child a granola bar because they were starving (or even just hungry)? Whether it is true or not, in too many cases, it is not well received. Sadly, many of the best educators know very little of the enormous expectations (job duties and responsibilities) they put on school bus drivers, while actually taking away many of the common sense tools that might make their job easier. Tis reminds me of the fifth-grade teacher, who upon hearing from students that a boy had a knife in his possession at recess con- fronted the boy and confiscated the knife. At the end of the day, she called the student to her desk, gave the knife back to the student with the very pointed directive to “Never bring this knife to school again,” just prior to his boarding the school bus for his ride home. Te school bus is an extension of the classroom? Really? Do school staff really believe this, or is it more likely patronizing lip-service? By-the-way, how do I know this actually happened? It was because the student cut another student on the way home. I have a 50 year-plus, believe-it-or-not file from my experiences in the


private sector (large and small companies), the public sector (transportation coordinator for large U.S. city), and current vice president, COO and partner in several companies with 1,100 school buses and motorcoaches. I don’t share my background to brag but merely to share the amount of time and positions I have had in the industry. If I am proud of any part of my career, it is that I have had a school bus driver’s license for 50-plus years—and have filled in as a driver on routes as recently as this past week. Tank you for the opportunity to share a concern I’ve had on more than one occasion, but never took the time to express.


(It must be a slow-


er-than-normal day). And thank you for School Transportation News—it is a good resource for our industry. Bruce H. Dischinger Hastings, Minnesota


For the Record


“The Connected Bus” article on Wi-Fi implementation in the October issue (page 54) failed to mention that two of the districts interviewed for the story utilize technology from Kajeet. STN regrets this omission.


8 School Transportation News • NOVEMBER 2017


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