they are screaming, what does that mean? They could be scared, or they could be angry. She recommended using calming strategies such as stress balls or other proprioceptive items like a piece of velvet, Silly-Putty, or headphones that either block out noise or allow the student to listen to soothing music. A conversation with the child’s occupational therapist might help to make the child more at ease. “At the first sign of trouble, the bus driver is often able to reach out to the parents,” said Taylor. “Start that communication loop. The bus is an important part of the educational system, and if there is no way to communi- cate then there is a big problem.” “Communication is so important,” agreed Betsey Hel-
frich, a special education attorney based in St. Louis who is scheduled to return to TSD Conference this November as a speaker. “The number one thing that bus drivers should know is if a student on their bus has a behav- ior plan. The driver and attendant should know how to
She added there are many misunderstandings about
FERPA regarding what can and cannot be shared. “The district might want to consider FERPA training and include the transportation department. I think that half of the battle is understanding who is on your bus, knowing how to de-escalate and what each student responds to,” Helfrich observed. “Knowing these things can prevent a lot of these behaviors from escalating. And of course, everyone should follow the proper procedural safeguards if a student is removed due to behavior.” In Utah’s Jordan School District, Director of Transpor-
tation Paul Bergera has several staff members assigned specifically to special education routing and training. Stephanie Erickson is the special education route coor- dinator, and Marcus Swainston specializes in training the district’s new drivers on the special education piece of the job. “We have 90 out of about 228 drivers who run special
The number one thing that bus drivers should know is if a student on their bus has a behavior plan. The driver and attendant should know how to de-escalate, if that is needed,
or if there is a strategy to implement. -Betsey Helfrich, special education attorney
de-escalate, if that is needed, or if there is a strategy to implement. The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, FERPA, which protects the privacy of student edu- cation records, would allow a bus driver, even one that worked for a contractor, to have the necessary informa- tion about a child that they need to do their job.” The second critical aspect of successfully transporting
children with special needs is closing that communication loop. The driver needs to be able to communicate easily with the school if there is a behavioral incident on the bus. “If a student is going to be removed from the bus due to their behavior, they are entitled to all of the procedural protections of IDEA if transportation is a related service in their IEP,” Helfrich advised. “Drivers need to not only be able to communicate with the school but also under- stand the rules.”
46 School Transportation News • JANUARY 2023
education routes,” Bergera said. “All of our drivers train in the classroom, then on the range, and then out on the road with a third-party tester before they go out on a route.” He explained
that the range is a course set up with obstacles and chal- lenges for drivers to practice on. “It’s not a wil-
ly-nilly range. It’s state compliant,” he said. “Our entire
facility covers 21 acres.” Swainston’s training includes the A.S.P.E.N. method
of de-escalating situations school wide. The training was developed by Dr. Ben Springer, a nationally certi- fied school psychologist and former special education director, who will bring the training to TSD Conference attendees this November. Jordan staff will only resort to calling the police after all other attempts, including clearing the bus or the classroom and calling the par- ents, have been used. Getting the lines of communication open and making
it a seamless and smooth procedure for bus drivers to share information with a student’s teachers, therapists, and other administrators has been a prickly issue for years, but for the sake of a safer bus ride and happier passengers, it’s worth the effort. ●
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