Seating Charts -- Your Responses

A couple of weeks ago, we discussed some state trooper's endorsement of seating charts on school buses. We also asked what's going on in your operation in terms of evacuation drills and seating charts and got some replies worth revisiting.

• A 30-year retired school bus driver told us he always had a seating chart on his bus. It helped him knew which students were on board and limited damage to the bus. "I also told the students they were responsible for that seat area if there was any damage they would be the first to be blamed, so they should report any damage they noticed to me right away. In 30 years I only had 4 seats cut," the driver wrote.
• A comment told us seating charts were nothing new in his/her district but noted the district divided the bus into a boys' side and girls' side: "This has helped stop some inappropriate touching."
• Another anonymous comment noted two evacuation drills with all school personnel were required every year in Texas. The district's special needs practices are worth paying some special attention to: "For special needs, our drivers compile a written evacuation plan keeping their students disabilities in mind such as, 'Johnny is autistic and may run, therefore he will need extra supervision.' After I have reviewed the written plan the special needs drivers are cleared to practice twice each year as they unload their students at school during the morning route.
• Finally, Brenda said she had made some suggestions for evacuation drills, but had been shot done. She wants your ideas for evacuation drills. Any help?
  

Never put off till tomorrow...

...what you can do today, Cheri Clymer reminds readers in her the first posting of her blog EmergenC (get it?). Clymer, a transportation safety trainer at Thompson School District Loveland, Colo., says training for weather related disasters before they arrive is vital.

if you don't have an emergency plan for your transportation center or if you have not exercised your plan, it requires your immediate attention. Do you know how you fit in the district emergency plan? Are your buses a transportation option for the city, county, etc. in an emergency? Do you have an established crisis team and have they practiced working together in a simulated emergency?

Cold weather may be retreating, but what is your school doing to prepare for the next season of potential emergencies? Share your thoughts here and be sure to visit Clymer's blog for more updates.

Talk About Having a Bad Day

Some days just stink. We've all had them, but perhaps note quite as bad as a 5-year-old boy did in Yakima, Wash., or perhaps his bus driver who just couldn't figure out where that smell was coming from.

According to news reports, the student had an accident --yes that kind of accident -- in his classroom. The teacher called the boy's father to alert him of the situation, to which Dad replied that his son had a change of clothes in his backpack. Sounds like a typical day in the life of a Kindergartner? Think again.

When the school bus dropped the boy at home that afternoon, his parents noticed he was wearing the same clothes and was completely clean. Then they opened his backpack. Inside, according to the parents, the teacher bagged up a piece of feces wrapped in a paper towel. A note accompanied it: "This little turd was on the floor in my classroom." But with the boy's clean appearance, the parents believe Mr. Hanky might belong to someone else.

While the school reps said they were investigating the incident, it makes you wonder what qualifications this teacher has that he or she would do such a thing to their 5-year-old student. Sensitivity training for teachers -- and bus drivers -- is vital in today's school environment, but this instance shows sheer stupidity. School transportation personnel are used to cleaning up excrement on the bus, so perhaps there's an opportunity here for departments to take stock of their own albeit mundane SOPs. Certainly messy situations are fun, but we're in the business of child education. You'd think other teachers, students and certainly the bus driver might smell a trail of something nasty emanating from that boy's backpack. And obviously the schools themselves need to revisit the basics.

Mama said there'd be days like this, but especially for this little tyke (and his parents) this one really reeks of a complete breakdown in adult supervision, leadership and common sense by those employed to care for our children.

Goodbye Mr. Al and Thank You

Earlier this week, we talked about how operations honor retiring drivers. We received one comment that we couldn't let go unread. Congratulations Al and thank you for all the safe rides.

This may be my one shot at speaking out so here goes. I am retired from the US Navy and was urged to get my CDL just over fifteen years ago. Got them on a Tuesday and at 6:15 the next morning with snow,sleet,freezing rain and fog I got the call,"Get up here, I need a driver". So my career started and I have enjoyed most of it. Beautifull sunrises and sunsets,deer, raccoons, birds and kids. All have served to make my 250,000 miles a vast source of joy and learning. I'll never forget my kids, the preschooler who rode for a year never saying a word, until her last day when she looked up the steps and said, "I love you Mr. Al". Or the fine young man who is serving our country at my urging. He told me he knew exactly who he is and what he was doing. There are lots of others but I think you get my point. So I'll close wishing you all safe days and pleasant stories. Keep the wheels rolling, the schedule on time and kids safe. I am retiring in May to spend more time with my wife and grandchildren. God Bless America. Al Murray, Robertson County Bd of Ed, Mt. Olivet, Ky.

Let's Go to the Replay ...

A Tennessee school bus driver has been cited in a school bus crash the injured several students, VolunteerTV.com reports. None of the seven students that were taken to the hospital after the bus struck a pole, but questions remain, namely, why didn't the onboard video recorder record:

Loudon County Schools has suspended the driver until the schools investigation is complete, which will go forward without video from the camera installed on the bus. Questions remain why a memory card was not in place.

The other question. Why wasn't the driver wearing his seat belt?

"[He] was actually thrown from the driver's seat due to not wearing a seat belt. He was able to get back in his seat and get control of the vehicle and stop the bus," a state trooper said.

Sound Familiar: Safety Regulation Means High School Transportation Costs (in Dubai)

This from the Nation's Press: Recent regulations of school buses in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, are sending the cost of school bus service "through the roof," the Gulf News reported. Schools are worried about the cost of the safety regulations and one has reportedly cut a number of buses to stay in budget. The principal told the paper:

"We are really worried about the fee increase because ours has always been an affordable school. But the overhaul and maintenance of school buses as per the RTA regulations are going to be too expensive for the school to afford."

Parents are worried, too. They said they don't like the idea of having to pick up the added cost of the safety regulation.

"I have three children going to school from next year and that means, I have to cough up around Dh10,000 [approx: $2,722.2 USD] alone as school transportation charges."

Honoring the Drivers and Philosophy

As we spring on towards summer and the end of another school year, consider how you honor your school bus drivers.

In North Carolina, Cleveland County Schools named Rita Maddox its driver of the month and scored a nice story in the local press. Said Maddox "I like driving a bus because I know that a nice smile and a hug every morning may be the only hugs some children get ... I work at the best school in Cleveland County with the greatest staff- not to mention the students."

Meanwhile, the retirement of a 40-year veteran behind the wheel, gets a story in a regional Arkansas paper. Wanda Pingry offered the paper (and other drivers) this wisdom:
"Kids aren't perfect and I don't expect them to be ... But I do expect them not to be mean and hateful and to keep their voice down."

What do you do for your drivers? How do you recognize long time drivers and school employees?

On another philosophical note, Bus No. 6 offers its own pearl from behind the wheel:

"... just the other day I realized that after a person has driven a bus for more than five years, that person starts to look and act just like their bus ... The gentleman who drives Bus No. 54 talks a big game but that's what it always is -- just talk. His bus has a great heater, but all the heat stays up front ... I drive Bus No. 6. It rattles a lot, makes a lot of noise, but it's nothing really worth listening to. Need I say more?"

Any truth to it? Are you like your bus?

Drivers Get No Raise; "I think we're all in this recession together"

From our Nation's Press: Totman Enterprises, the contractor that serves schools in Marshfield, Mass., turned down pay raises for its 25 employees in order to reduce its contract price by $100,000 and avoid instituting a transportation fee. Martha Totman, the owner of the company told WickedLocal.com:

"I think we’re all in this recession together, and in order to get out of it, we have to get out of it together ... My drivers are terrific people and most live in Marshfield, and this affects us all. With the lack of stability in our school system, it’s hard when you don’t know whether you’re going to have a job or programs cut. And we hoped we could make it a little easier"

What's going on where you live? Are you getting COLA increases? Raises? Pink slips?

Troopers Impressed by Seating Chart After Crash

Missouri state troopers were impressed by what they found after a non-fatal school bus crash last week: a seating chart that put each kid to a seat. Sgt. Dale Moreland with the Missouri State Highway Patrol said he thinks it's a good idea for every school to do this.

"Normally I think a practice as that they're seated kind of the way they're picked up and children have their choices, but for safety reasons it would make sense to seat them together ... Smaller children together, large children together. That would help prevent injuries in a crash."

What does your operation do? Are there reasons not to do this? Are there better ways?

Also online and worth reading:

• How school bus driver made it into Parade Magazine's annual salary survey. Also, how driver's salary stacks up against well-paid pet sitter.
  
• Maine looks at law that would require bicycles to stop for school buses. Legislators noted that cyclists had nearly run down some young children exiting their buses. Have you seen this? Does your town/state have a policy or law for bicycles?
  

Is the Hands-Free-Only Law Reducing Hands-Free Use

Food for thought. Tom Vanderbilt at How We Drive brings up an interesting phenomenon. Since California has passed a ban on the use of hand-held phones while driving, use of both hands-held and hands-free phones has declined. A colleague hypothesizes two things are happening:

One, the publicity about the law has raised awareness in general about the risks of talking on a phone — hand-held or not — while driving (and this trend shall pass); or two, that people have not fully understood the law, and may be confusing one form of phone with the other (I admit to sometimes taking a moment to comprehend what the ungainly term ‘hand-free phone’ actually signifies). A third possible idea is that people may somehow feel police will be looking more carefully at all drivers on a phone, regardless of whether it’s legal or not. Or perhaps there’s some other unknown factor at work. Or perhaps the sample size is simply not large enough; perhaps more people than ever are driving and talking.

This should give us an opportunity to look at our own attitudes towards onboard devices, regulation and safe driving behavior.

"It's not the way to handle things"

The father of a four-year-old special needs student who was allegedly molested by a school bus aide is irate. The aide has been arrested, but Josue Melgar said the district shouldn't have taken nearly two weeks to tell him about the incident. He told CBS4:

"They give me excuses saying, 'I'm sorry, I'm sorry' saying, 'We told this person to call you.' It's not the way to handle things."

"... I don't know for how these people (the school district) could do this without sending the girl back home and acting like nothing has happened ... That's not the way to do this. I just feel devastated when I think about that. I can't sleep just thinking about that."

The district said it launched an investigation immediately after the bus driver said she saw the aide touching the student and removed the aide and reassigned him to a job away from students. But the district could not say why the Melgars were not notified immediately.

Read the whole story online. Let us know what you think. How do you think the district handled this incident? What procedures for investigation and notification of parents are in place in your school if this should happen?

"Spare the Ride and Spoil the Child"

Last year, Krista Ramsey over at the Cincinnati Enquirer discovered something the school transportation industry has been talking about for a while: the school bus is good for kids, good for schools, good for the environment; and not enough high school kids ride it. As part of her Earth Day investigation, she estimated that if 500 teen drivers rode the bus two days a week instead of driving they'd save $37,152 and 10,800 gallons of gas. In an update, she encourages parents of younger kids to put their kids on the bus.

But there's a more subtle reason for encouraging parents to help their kids learn the bus-riding habit. That's to move this somewhat sheltered generation out of the hothouse.

Our kids are in for tough economic times ahead, and probably years of them. Sacrifice is not only something we haven't wanted for them, but something we haven't trained them for, which may explain why they see cable as a birthright and their own car as a necessity.

Headlines: Savings, Double Deckers, "Moon Shine"

• A Florida district is set to save $11 million by changing how it runs its buses.
• A school in Ontario looks to red, London-style double decker buses to solve budget woes.
• A Pennsylvania man was accused of mooning a school bus driver.
• Bus aide hailed as hero after she pulled a woman from a house fire.