Parental Involvement: Wouldn't it Be Nice?

The National PTO wrote about parent involvement in their child's education on its blog yesterday. In doing so, it recognized Minnesota, one of the few states that celebrates the role parents play in school. It's apropos, after all, as October is parental involvement month. PTO even has a parent involvement toolkit.

But, the PTO asks, why aren't more states following Minnesota's lead?

Parents can be a forgotten, underestimated group in school transportation operations - that is until something goes wrong. Understandably, pupil transporters concentrate on the needs of the children they serve, and some have a lot of special needs, especially those with disabilities. Parent outreach is vital when it comes to IEP meetings in which transportation service is a necessary component. Some schools here and there make the school bus part of back to school night, or bus driver are assigned or take it upon themselves to visit parents of the students riding their bus to talk about a variety of topics from bus stops to home life. Plus, it can be cool just to say hi and introduce themselves.

Meanwhile, Head Start relies heavily on parents. The majority of the more than 200,000 workers at and for Head Start agencies are local volunteers, many of them the parents of the children who partake in the federal program. It's so important of a topic that the National Head Start Association each December holds a special parent training conference.

What is your school district doing to reach out to parents? Is there a shortage of parents stepping up to the plate to make sure transportation service is all it could be? This month provides an excellent opportunity to question how parents are involved in the transportation decisions that affect their children. After all, they are the true customers. The tax paying ones.

So Much for Compartmentalization in New Airplane Design

School bus safety is predicated on the concept of compartmentalization, the safety envelope provided to students by the cushioned high back bench seats that are supposed to keep the children from being tossed about the bus in the event of a crash.

Certainly, no two crashes are the same, each with its own impact zones and forces that can cause injuries no matter what. That's the argument used by seat belt proponents. But today's blog isn't about seat belts but an interesting new commercial airplane passenger seating design originating out of England that promises increased capacity.

"Airplanes?" you ask. "What do airplanes have to do with school transportation?" The designs originated at a school in Stokes on Trent in England.

Modeled after troop transport planes, designer Howard Guy was working on a new learning project for the school's students when he had the epiphany that this could help airlines realize a 15- to 20 percent increase in capacity. Let's just hope it never finds its way out of the classroom and onto school buses, or airplanes, for that matter.

School Transportation Has No Immunity from Decisions About the Flu

By Peggy Burns

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has released its “Guidance for State and Local Public Health Officials and School Administrators for School (K-12) Responses to Influenza during the 2009-2010 School Year.” CDC predicts that schools and health officials can help protect 1/5 of the country’s population from flu by implementing its suggestions. School transportation professionals should be aware:

• Staff members with flu-like illness should be urged to stay home for at least 24 hours after they no longer have a fever, or signs of a fever, without the use of fever-reducing medicines.
• Cleaning bus interiors thoroughly would appear to comport with the CDC recommendation that “School staff should routinely clean areas that students and staff touch often with the cleaners they typically use.”
• School administrators are urged to “balance the risks of flu” with the “disruption dismissals will cause in both education and the wider community.”
• While direct impacts on school transportation operations are not addressed in the Guidance, school transportation administrators are, perhaps, in the best position to consider proactively what those impacts may be and discuss them with school district officials.

Peggy Burns is an attorney/consultant with Education Compliance Group, Inc. Peggy can be reached at (888) 604-6141 and by email to ecginc@qwestoffice.net.

Social Networking the Old Fashioned Way: Be Bold

By Peggy Burns

I’ve given presentations at a number of conferences this summer, in all parts of the country. Concern about transportation professionals’ relationship with immediate supervisors, superintendents, and boards of education is a common theme of questions and comments I’ve heard. It seems you’re being asked to make exceptions to policy, move bus stops to appease an individual powerful – or persistent – parent, and, generally, to operate in an atmosphere in which you feel a lack of support. School transportation professionals need to “do” rather than be “done to.” I strongly recommend you take initiative to do the following:

• Determine specific safety risks inherent in exceptions you’re asked to make

• Identify real costs when changes are made

• Anticipate unintended consequences of budget cuts

• Be constant learners about school transportation options, alternatives, equipments, and methods

• Educate your supervisors about what you learn

• Demonstrate the impact of decisions that you make, and that others make

You may have far more power if you’re a bit less passive. Let’s see what happens.

Peggy Burns is an attorney/consultant with Education Compliance Group, Inc. Peggy can be reached at (888) 604-6141, and by email to ecginc@qwestoffice.net.

School Year Calendar Changes and the Impact on Transportation

As the 2009-2010 school year approaches, we have started to see a few major school calendar changes across the states; changes that will most likely have an impact on school transportation schedules, and possibly staffing.

The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports that under new state legislation that takes affect this school year, Georgia schools have the option of moving away from the traditional 180-day school year so long as students are in class the required number of hours per year. For example, the Murray County School System in Chatsworth is moving to a 160-day school year that starts after Labor Day and ends before Memorial Day. The change extends the school day by an hour for elementary school pupils and 30 minutes for older students, equating to an estimated savings of $124,000 in administrative services costs this year.

And in what the Star Bulletin reports is the second major calendar change in three years for Hawaii public schools, the school year will now begin on July 30 and end May 26. The move shortens winter and spring breaks and lengthens summer vacation.

Are there major school calendar changes coming your way? If so, how will this impact your operations and staffing?

Arne Duncan vs. the Blob

The Economist has a broad, if not particularly deep, profile of Education Secretary Arne Duncan that's well worth reading for anyone interested in the big picture of the future of American public schools. Duncan comes off as extraordinarily well liked, capable and fixed to make major reforms in education. At the same time, the magazine opines that the former pro-ball player has no sure slam dunk:

But the bigger reason to be pessimistic about Mr Duncan is that the education establishment has an astonishing record of neutralising reform-minded politicians. Entrenched vested interests and a decentralised system—with much of the day-to-day decision-making controlled by 16,000 school districts—combine to squash most promises of improvement. The mighty teachers’ unions regularly welcome reforms in theory while destroying them in practice. Bill Bennett, Ronald Reagan’s education secretary, perfectly described this slippery bunch as “the blob”.

The battle between Mr Duncan and the blob is a crucial one. The result of the battle will determine, first, whether it is worth continuing with moderate education reforms—for if these reforms cannot succeed with $100 billion and a golden boy at the helm, they never will. It will also determine whether Mr Obama can deliver on his promise to build the American economy on the rock of well-educated and productive workers rather than the sand of financial speculation. A pity that, however many battles it loses, the blob always seems to win the long war.

When Duncan was first nominated, we ran our own snapshot of Duncan and school transportation. As CEO of Chicago Public Schools, Duncan appeared to have experience with busing systems and recognized their value. At the same time, he resisted a No Child Left Behind requirement that would have demanded more cross-town transfers, saying:

"I am not for putting money into yellow school buses when I can put it into teaching and learning ... I am not going to overburden schools that are improving. Where the law does not make sense, I am not going to do anything to jeopardize the progress we are making."

@ STN EXPO 2009: How School Bus Drivers Can Stop Sexual Predators

Recently, we announced that author, law enforcement professional and member of one of Florida's Child Abduction Response Teams Dr. Duane Dobbert will present a four-hour pre-conference session as well as a general session on identifying sexual predators. So far, Dobbert has trained thousands of pupil transporters in his program "School Bus Drivers: The First Line of Defense Against Sexual Predators." Said Dobbert:

“In all of my 39 years of service I have never met a group of professionals more dedicated and active in getting the job done and protecting children ... School bus drivers are truly my heroes, and I wish everyone in the United States would realize the wonderful service they provide to our school age children.”

In the video below, Dobbert expands on the idea:



More about this year's School Transportation News Conference and EXPO at www.stnconference.com. More about Dobbert at www.drduanedobbert.com.

Recession Proof Jobs in School Transportation?

Bad news for many Americans this week as 55,000 jobs were cut on what some are calling Bloody Monday. While many school districts are looking at cutting school bus and other services or cutting district pay to balance budgets, school bus contractor Student Transportation of America is saying it offers "recession proof jobs." In a press release Dina Cooper, STA director of recruiting, said:

"Kids have to go to school despite the ups and downs of the economy ... Budget deficits are prompting many more school districts to consider the benefits of contracted student transportation and we're expecting to win a record number of new business bids in the coming months. This growth is driving our need for additional employees. Job cuts at other transportation businesses mean the pool of qualified drivers and mechanics has grown and we're looking forward to welcoming these well-qualified men and women to our growing team."

What the recession means for the rest of the industry and driver jobs around the country remains to be seen.