A Special 60K: Grant Funds Come in Different Shapes and Sizes for School Transportation

By Ryan Gray

While not for yellow bus service, a Michigan middle school is using some of a large pot of grant money bestowed by the foundation named for the founder of Kellogg's cereals to fund a new computer lab that will assist students in purchasing transit bus passes. I know what many of you might be saying: "Well, it sure would be nice if the district's school transportation received its share." I don't portend to know the answer, but I would respond, "Did it even try?"

It's cliched, but you definitely don't get what you don't ask for. It's true in love, in life and certainly school transportation. Gardner Middle School in Lansing apparently asked and received, as it was awarded $60,000 for the computer lab through the end of next school year. In addition to enabling students to buy passes from the Capital Area Transportation Authority, the grant also includes an after-school snack program, stipends for two teachers and two student scholarships.

As you are likely well aware, school transportation is vital to getting children in their classroom seat, and, if successful, schools stand to gain dearly. Attendance is tied to adequate yearly progress, and all states are watching carefully especially in these lean economic times. It just so happens that last month Lansing School District announced that 31 of its 33 schools earned AYP recognition from the state department of education.

It wasn't immediately known what role, if any, Lansing's school transportation department had in administering the funds. Here's hoping it had a say. Just like with the federal Safe Routes to School Program, there is plenty of money that in one way or another can benefit school transportation coffers, that is if you just know where to look for it and can connect the dots back to your department. Decisions on how to use the money should incorporate the feedback of the experts in how to safely and efficiently move children from home to school and back each day.

Monday Rundown

• The Kalamazoo Gazette offers more thoughts on the assault of a school bus driver. Apparently, it will take some time before the district can coordinate a policy on staff and training to prevent assaults like these or address them if they happen again. The paper also reacts to the virulent debate about race, education and discipline the incident ignited.
• On a similar note, a West Monroe, La., police tasered a 14-year-old student after the 250-pound 5'9" bus rider became belligerent and assaulted an officer.
  
• School bus driver gives special treatment to one cat.
  
• Spring break is over for Bus No. 6. He's sad to be waking up early again, but glad to be working in a job he loves given the economy:
  

  "At least we have a place to go to in the mornings instead of the unemployment line. At least we're driving something bigger than Bubba's pickup truck, and if he even LOOKS like he's going to pass through our blinking lights and stop sign, we know we could take him out if we had a mind to, but we don't because there are kids on board and we're more professional than that. But we gave it some thought. Yes indeed. My blood runs yellow. How about yours"

• Also from Nation's Press:
  
  • Web Site Users Catch Bus Drivers Behaving Badly, Call for Action
  • Transportation Boss Quits After Driver Allegedly Drove While Intoxicated
  • The Ambien Defense: School Bus Driver Claims Medicine Responsible for Sleep Driving Crash
  • More
    

New Blogger Behind the Wheel, Another Take on Kalamazoo

Okay, technically she's not new, but we just found her. Ravings of a Mad Bus Driver is the blog of a 30-year-old Michigan pupil transportation professional that tells everyday stories from the driver's seat. In her most recent post, she shares her take on the beating of a Kalamazoo, Mich., school bus driver we discussed earlier in the week:

WOW can you believe this.....

It's frightening to think what can happen just for doing your job. I couldn't help but cringe while watching this. It is very scary.

Incidentally, in the unfolding of this story, two teens were recently honored for their role in helping to stop the attack.

Monday Rundown

• Storm and strong winds throw Indiana school bus into building. According to the AP, the bus was empty at the time. Click for more on the storm, including photos of the bus atop a flattened building.
• Last week, a Michigan school bus driver was assaulted by one of her student riders in an incident caught on the bus' security camera. In an editorial this weekend, Julie Mack puts the incident in some perspective, reminding readers that the student was emotionally-disturbed and the incident occurred on a bus for students with emotional-disabilities:
  

  This was a horrifying assault. But it was very much an anomaly. This isn't something that happens every day or every year. To be honest, the viciousness of the assault was why it made national news; if this was happening regularly, it would be just another video.

  Yet many people don't see it that way. As often happens with school-safety issues, some are quick to draw conclusions that are fundamentally false. An isolated incident becomes proof of systemic violence in schools. A whole school system, a whole community can get unfairly tainted from one teenager's awful outburst.

• Short Bus Chronicles offers its two cents.
• Day Light Savings is back. That means early morning darkness for a.m. pick ups. Interestingly, one expert says while darker mornings produce more car crashes involving kids, the increase is more than made up for by the larger decline in early evening accidents with increased hours of light. The Washington Post's Marc Fisher explains the history of day light savings and looks at an alternative two-hour savings.