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
    

Jobs in the Industry...

This week, IC Bus joins the rest of the major OEMs in announcing layoffs. The company has not said how many employees will be laid off, but has halved its vehicle production. Blue Bird and Thomas Built Buses made similar announcements this year and last. At the same time, as we reported earlier this month driving a school bus appears to be a promising job in the downturn.

New Video: Installing STAR

As we ramp up for the this year's School Transportation News Conference EXPO and Trade Show, this week we add another new video from the 2007 EXPO. In this video, SafeGuard IMMI's Charlie Vitts shows attendees how to install and remove the company's SafeGuard STAR child safety restraint system.

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.

On Sale: School Buses for $682 Each

Houston ISD is selling nearby Galveston ISD buses at bargain basement prices, Houston Press reports. Prices from the auctioned buses were so low, the blog wouldn't believe 'em until the school system the spreadsheet.

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.

Friday Highlights

• Time to Enlist the Wisdom of Sherlock Holmes. Bus No. 6 has a tip for getting riders to stop eating on the bus and writing on the backs of seats: follow the greatest detective's advice and use your other riders as spys.
• D.C. gets hit with its first snow day. Short Bus Chronicles says drivers need more of a say in when school gets called off.
  
• Just in in case drivers are on the road anyway, a few tips on driving in winter weather.
• wife. mom. school bus driver. also has a day off with the snow.
  
• School Bus Stories learns to 'watch for curbs.' After blowing out a tire and bringing, the a driver learns the probable cause of his first-ever blow out.
• How do you motivate staff in this heartless economy? On our YouTube channel we share Cal LeMon's advice from our 2007 EXPO. In the clip below, LeMon suggests how we can look at working differently to better motivate employees. Watch the section below or each part of the presentation on our channel.