tion program (IEP) team, including appropriate school and transportation personnel. It is crucial that school district and contract providers, school district personnel, drivers, parents and students as appropriate, are involved in these decisions. The IEP process is the appropriate mechanism for taking all the steps necessary to make an informed decision to provide safe transportation and meet the individual needs of a child with a disability. At the annual IEP meeting, the IEP team should
evaluate whether alternative transportation is neces- sary or whether the student can be transported on the school bus. Under the IDEA it is required that all school transportation personnel, including substitute person- nel, receive training in accordance with federal and state regulations. Training of direct and indirect trans- portation personnel should always be consistent with recommended transportation services on an individual child’s IEP, in order to provide safe transportation. Undisputable is the necessity to ensure safe and reliable transportation is a top priority. The school transportation literature persuasively notes that the yellow school bus is the safest form of school transportation and unarguably should always be considered the first means of school transportation. However, it is acknowledged that the yellow school bus cannot always meet each individual student’s
specific needs. With that being said, there is no sustainable excuse to delay the setting of recommended uniform min- imum standards at the upcoming NCST, to address safety regardless of the mode of school transportation. In summary, from my past experience and efforts,
the NCST has been resistant to include non-school transportation vehicles in the National Specifications and Procedures document. The inclusion of the Non- Traditional Vehicle Writing Committee at the 17th NCST is a long awaited and welcomed change. I am hopeful, that the recommendations of the Non-Traditional Vehicles Committee will be adopted by the 17th NCST and included in the next National School Transportation Specifications and Procedures manual. In reality, there is no defensible rationale to reject the work of the NCST Alternative Transportation Committee attempting to improve the safety of all children transported to and from school, regardless of mode of school transportation.
Linda F. Bluth, Ed.D. is a national compliance and regulatory expert on IDEA transportation law and provisions. She is a tenured faculty member of the TSD Conference, a regular contributor to School Transportation News, and a National Association Pupil Transportation Hall of Fame member.
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