Talking (and Checking) Out Loud During the Post-Trip Inspection

By Peggy Burns

It’s said that some people dream in Technicolor; I think in “yellow.” The result is that I get inspiration about school transportation from strange places.

In the July 2008 “Better Homes and Gardens” magazine, an article entitled “Steer Them Straight” recommends ways to “teach seeing” to teenagers who are new drivers, learning to focus. The article references Dr. Susan Smith Kuczmarski’s recommendation in The Sacred Flight of the Teenager to have teenagers, “Say out loud what you see as you drive, and articulate what you do to drive safely.”

Why not adapt this excellent idea for school bus drivers as they do their post-trip inspections, looking for students who might otherwise be left behind? Tell them to say out loud such observations as “I’m passing row one and see no one on or under the seats. Now I’m passing row two. I’ve searched low under the seats in that row.” And so on.

Yes, it’s more tedious than the ever-changing landscape of the road. But I believe driver trainers and bus drivers can find creative ways to describe row by row, seat by seat explorations, as they search for precious cargo who might otherwise remain hidden.

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

Announcement of Transportation Bill Outline Postponed

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee said a previously planned 2 p.m. ET Web briefing that was to release the blueprint of the reauthorization bill that will be marked up in coming weeks was delayed by a day.

The new session is scheduled for tomorrow at 11 a.m. EDT.

Federal 'Livability Principles' Include Transportation, Community Safety

Today, before the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, the triumvirate of U.S. EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood and U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan identified the need to increase transportation choices and safe and walkable neighborhoods while announcing an inter-agency "Partnership for Sustainable Communities."

The partnership is designed to help improve access to affordable housing, more transportation options, and lower transportation costs while protecting the environment in communities nationwide. Their testimony came a day before Rep. James Oberstar (D-MN), the chair of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, was scheduled to release an outline of the upcoming transportation bill reauthorization.

Expected in the reauthorization, which, according to Beltway insiders, the House Ways and Means Committee is not expected to mark up until at least next week but likely after the July 4 recess, are provisions to extend the five-year, $612-million federal Safe Routes to School plan. The school transportation industry will also be eying any detail given on whether or not the federal fuel tax will be increased from its current 18.3 cents per gallon to pump money into the depleted highway trust fund, or if another alternative like a mileage fee might be added. Then there's anxiety over whether or not transit agencies will be thrown life preserver to get around previously passed charter rules and a school bus provision that limits how and when those municipalities can compete with services provided by private bus companies.

The outline is now expected to be released tomorrow at 2 p.m. EDT.

Outline of Transportation Bill to be Released

By Ryan Gray

Rep. James Oberstar (D-MN), the chair of the House Transportation Committee, will be releasing an outline of the transportation reauthorization bill this week. There could be some good news for the school transportation industry.

With a full draft of the bill expected before the July 4 recess, there is speculation that the $612 million federal Safe Routes to School Program will receive a boost in funding. This spring, the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services worked with the Safe Routes to School National Partnership to include verbiage into recommendations filed with House leaders to appropriate 10 percent of Safe Routes infrastructure funds for increasing school bus stop safety.

Proponents have asked for full funding of the program at $17 billion over the next five years, but likely some kind of compromise with House Republicans will pare down that figure considerably. Despite Safe Routes being a pet project of Rep. Oberstar, Republicans sent a letter to President Obama last month that proposed program cuts deigned to help trim the budget, including a line item to eliminate Safe Routes.

Here's a list of programs school districts that have received funding since the Safe Routes program started in 2005 under the SAFETEA-LU. Has your district looked into similar funding opportunities?

The New Concerns that Come with First-Time Seat Belts

Now that the Janesville (Wis.) School District is set to get its first-ever school buses with three-point seat belts in time for the 2009-2010 school year, the Janesville Gazette reports that the school board is trying to hammer out new rules about seat belt use including the number students by grade level who can be assigned to one seat, and when it is safe for the driver to beginning driving.

The current proposed rules in Janesville include: “The driver will not move the bus until all students are seated, buckled and have visually indicated to the driver they are buckled.”

Is your district or fleet receiving buses with seat belts for the first time this coming year? What safety issues and rules-of-use are you grappling with? Have you found successful answers?

Sotomayor's Record on Deciding Legal Cases that Involve School Transportation

Education Week's School Law Blog today published a comprehensive list of legal decisions made by U.S. Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor. One of her decisions included alleged racism at the school bus stop.

The case centers on a 6-year-old African American boy, whose parents complained of racism after transferring him into a district located in Wallingford, Conn. Shortly after the alleged incidents on the bus or at the bus stop, the child was also transferred from his first grade class into kindergarten. But Sotomayor and another judge ruled that it could neither be proved that the district intentionally discriminate against the boy nor that his demotion to a lower grade was a result of anything other than district discovering that the boy had learning challenges.

Collins Plant Hit By Storm

Collins Bus Corporation's South Hutchinson plant was damaged by what weather experts are calling a "microburst thunderstorm." No one was injured during the storm and the company's production schedule will not be affected. The damage was centralized to roof of the sales offices. Other local businesses affected by the storm include Tyson Foods. A microburst is defined as "a small, very intense downdraft that descends to the ground resulting in a strong wind divergence. Microbursts are capable of producing winds of more than 100 mph causing significant damage."