SPECIAL REPORT Times Are Changing …
What Is Your Response to School Bus Violence? Written by Taylor Ekbatani |
taylor@stnonline.com
A
simple Google search for “school bus” fills one’s feed with news articles and videos that depict violence. Whether these instances are students or parents attacking the driver, or
the driver attacking a student, the increase in violence in and around the school bus cannot be ignored. Transpor- tation directors STN spoke with for the article attribute the increase to shifts noticed after students returned to school following the COVID-19 pandemic. What makes matters worse is nearly every student has
a cell phone and the ability to instantly hit record or con- tact their parents or guardians if anything goes wrong on the bus, sometimes even before the school bus driver has time to notify dispatch. How is a transportation di- rector to respond in this day and age? Escambia County Public Schools in Florida is one of the
districts mentioned in local news articles about a middle school student assaulting a school bus driver in February. Darlene Hart, the director of transportation, explained that the 23-year veteran driver transporting the students that day is not that route’s regular driver. She reiterated that it wasn’t a “build-up” situation or a case of the bus driver and student not getting along. The offending student had been placed at an alternative school and was able to re- turn to the public school due to good behavior. When the driver pulled up to the student’s stop, Hart explained, she informed the student that transportation policy prohibit- ed drinks on board the bus. The student argued with the driver but reluctantly put the drink in the trash, and they continued on their way to school. Upon arriving at the school, the driver stood up from her seat, turned to face the students, and greeted each one as they exited the bus. When it got to the student who had tried to board with the drink, the driver asked her to wait so they could talk. The student then grabbed the driver by the hair and started beating her in the face and around her body, Hart said. “Luckily we had a school official who was right there,” she added. “And as soon as he saw what was happen- ing, he ran onto the bus and [created a] gap between the student and the driver and was able to shield the driver from any further contact, as far as straight-on contact.” Hart noted that the driver did nothing to cause this
type of violence. “She came in after it happened to do an accident report because we had her go be checked out because she had some pretty deep scratches on her face,” Hart recalled. “But she said, ‘I am so thankful that it was me and not one of our new drivers because [students] can’t scare me. And I’m also glad that it wasn’t an older driver that could have gotten seriously hurt.’ She was just
22 School Transportation News • MAY 2024
thankful that, if it had to happen, that it happened to her.” The driver went back to transporting students the next morning. While Hart said violence on the school bus has in-
creased, so has the amount of training provided to bus drivers. One technique employed is what she referred to as conscious discipline. Drivers are encouraged to look within themselves and identify what angers or triggers them. The transportation department also provides de-es- calation training to help avoid power struggles on the bus. “That’s been helpful,” Hart said, adding that four training
sessions a year are focused on these topics. “We talk about these things—what we can do to protect ourselves, protect our students. We work on that consciously, all the time, to try to come up with new strategies.” Mike Jones, executive director of transportation for Fort
Bend Independent School District in Texas, said the lan- guage has gotten more severe on general education buses and aggressive student behavior has increased on special education routes, especially in younger students. He added that staff is limited in ways to handle those situations. Jones said he is completing his second year at Fort Bend and the policy was originally, “You never touch a kid.” However, he said, that’s not accurate anymore, and he’s working on changing that driver perspective. In- stead, he said, the district is arming the bus drivers with the right information. There are certain circumstances in which, if a driver is trying to protect themself, others or even the student from hurting themselves, they can physically intervene. “Now, it’s not a license to attack,” he said, “but to
restrain or to keep them from hurting themselves or oth- ers. It’s just got to be something that you can defend and something that needs to be documented immediately.” Meanwhile, Lee Livingston, the director of transpor-
tation for Prince George’s County Public Schools in Virginia, said parent-on-driver violence is occuring in his district more frequently than any other incident. This school year alone, he said, there have been three occasions when staff have contacted law enforcement because of an aggressive parent. The state of Virginia does have a law against school bus trespassing, but Liv- ingston said it hasn’t been enforced until recently. “We train our drivers to make sure that, if an adult
comes to the bus and actually steps on to the bus, [the drivers] have to tell them to leave even though there’s a sign posted,” he said, adding that the state requires the sign to be posted on the stairwell. “That you tell the indi- vidual that they have to leave. At that point in time, if they don’t, then they can actually receive criminal charges.”
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