SPECIAL REPORT
Creating a School Bus No-Bullying Zone
Written by Ruth Ashmore |
ruth@stnonline.com E
arlier this year, a Florida mother received a video of her 9-year-old daughter being beaten on the school bus by a group of older students. In September 2022, Miami police arrested three
17-year-old boys who robbed a deaf student at knife point at a school bus stop. Meanwhile, a lawsuit was settled in October 2022 regarding a 2018 incident, during which a South Carolina girl who is nonverbal and on the autism spectrum was severely beaten during the school bus ride by another student with an emotional disturbance who should have been accompanied by a monitor. Amid the high rates of assaults and bullying, verbal or
physical, educators who are trying to create a safe envi- ronment are growing disheartened, especially onboard the school bus where there’s usually a higher ratio of students to adults than in a classroom. But the key to combating bullying lies in understanding not only the cause and ef- fects but student transportation’s role in prevention. Dr. Ben Springer, a keynote speaker at the 2023 TSD
Conference this month, has unique experience to share. He is not only a former director of special education for Wasatch County School District in Utah but also a school bus attendant for students with special needs. His ap- proach utilizes the pressing questions about bullying to help frame why these abusive behaviors occur in school environments—and what can be done about them. “Bullying has been and will always be, unless we do
something about it, a tool to gain and/or preserve status, voice and choice,” he said. Springer explained that children use bullying to
maintain status or to establish dominance over another person. He maintains that if educators can teach chil- dren academic knowledge, they can also teach conflict resolution. During a recent webinar hosted by the U.S. Depart-
ment of Education and the U.S. Department of Justice, experts discussed the long-term and often severe effects bullying can have on student mental health and aca-
16 School Transportation News • NOVEMBER 2023
demic performance. Chad Rose, an associate professor at the University of Missouri and director of the Missouri Bullying Preven- tion Lab, said half of all students experience bullying in a school setting, with one in five students experiencing some kind of victimization, defined in psychologist cir- cles as subjecting a person to cruel and unfair treatment, typically through physical or emotional abuse. Rose told School Transportation News that he present-
ed on the importance of social and communication skill development, especially among students with special needs or disabilities who are twice as likely to experience victimization. He explained that this starts with a shift in school climate and culture. It is vital that school systems and communities
at-large recognize school buses are extensions of the classroom, he continued, and student transportation professionals need to have the same resources and sup- port that classroom teachers have. “The bus drivers need to be using the same language and engaging in the same messaging that is being used in schools. The same expectations should be included in the transportation of students to and from school. Doing so would require the representation of school bus drivers in the meetings and trainings,” said Rose. “The school bus should be viewed as an extension of the educational environment. It’s in these spaces where kids learn and engage in social skills that are so incredibly important in bullying prevention.” While it is not only crucial for students to know what
to do, what to say, and who to tell when they have ex- perienced bullying, Rose stated that school bus drivers need to be aware of the district’s response and investi- gation policies, so they correctly follow protocol. “Bus drivers need to be informed of any intervention or sup- port that has been given to students [that ride their bus] who have been bullied in the school,” he continued. Rose specified behavior-specific praise as an un-
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