Katrina Prompted Better Planning
As a result of Hurricane Katrina, Vales notes, “the magnitude of planning is significantly more than in the past — coordinating services, improving and putting more communications systems in place to communicate with other agencies in the area.”
In flooded areas, drivers are instructed that they “should not navigate a road where they cannot see the road,” Vales says. “We don’t want drivers navigating in moving water. … The bus has a large bearing surface and can be swamped by moving water. That may mean turning the bus around and finding an alternate route.”
People in areas where flooding is prevalent are “well aware of what the hazards are … they come out to meet the bus.” Usually, there is advance warning of flooding; not so with tornadoes. Standard practice when a tornado is sighted is to seek emergency shelter for passengers.
Related Photo Gallery: Photos of Henryville High School Tornado Aftermath
“Do not attempt to outrun a tornado in the school bus; instead, abandon it for a strong building,” drivers are advised.
Expect the Unexpected
Amid all of the training that exists, how do you train for the unexpected, and do you have the infrastructure in place to expect the unexpected? Under what conditions should a driver not attempt a rescue?
These are some of the questions raised by George Horne, a transportation consultant who retired as transportation director after 22 years at the Jefferson Parish Public School System in Harvey, La.
Horne tells of a storm during which a driver, seeing high water ahead, got off the bus and carried a student out of harm’s way — but he left students on the bus while doing this.
“What if the bus had floated away?” Horne asks.
He also wonders whether, in 2013, drivers are being adequately trained to pay attention to what’s happening at stops: noticing occupied vehicles parked nearby, other changes in the environment near stops, changes in the demeanor of student passengers, etc. Where does it end? you might ask.
Driver Trained to Anticipate, Respond
So, school transporters are expected to master their vehicles to provide security in any number of natural disasters, community emergencies and catastrophic events. On top of that, there’s an everyday commitment to passenger security.
How many communities across the country recognize the breadth and depth of pupil transportation training? There’s the skill of driving safely, the act of passenger protection and the tact of managing behaviors. There’s CPR, oxygen tanks, tracheotomies and administering live-saving medications. There’s car seat securement, securing wheelchairs in a vehicle, securing a passenger in a wheelchair, wheelchair lift operation and emergency evacuation techniques — for passengers of all sizes, all behaviors and all physical conditions.
Related Article: Tackling School Bus Bullying
Vales of the Tangipahoa Parish School System says that his job, when called upon, “is to get people out of harm’s way.”
Of her team’s gesture to provide warmth and shelter for nursing home evacuees, Wetzel of Bellbrook-Sugarcreek Schools says: “I’m sure many school districts are doing this. We really aren’t special.”
Special or not, maybe the pupil transportation industry should toot its horn a bit more about the vital role we play in homeland security.
The Challenge: Balancing Customer Service With Risk
Here’s a question for these unsettling times that a Kansas City regional offshoot of the Missouri Association for Pupil Transportation (KCMAPT) is grappling with: “How does a school district maintain an environment of stellar customer service while ensuring the highest security possible on its school buses?”
To help find approaches and answers to that balancing act, KCMAPT has been meeting with stakeholders that include school district transportation administrators and managers, Transportation Security Administration (TSA) representatives, local law enforcement officials, vendors and taxi cab company officials. (Kansas City Public Schools transports around 300 children per year under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act.)
Patrick Kneib, president of the group and director of transportation for Kansas City Public Schools, offers these examples of differences in approaches taken by two school districts within his region:
One district imposes a 25-foot “bubble” around its buses. Parents, guardians, non-students and others are prohibited from approaching buses within that zone.
Another district won’t address or talk to anyone at the bus service door. Individuals may approach at the driver’s side “if it’s safe to.”
Kneib says that his district benefitted from a base assessment provided by the local TSA surface transportation agents when they were brought in last summer to assess the district’s vulnerability to threats. TSA, he notes, has been “very good at offering resources, training, information and help” and providing referrals to other experts.
While KCMAPT continues to search for answers to the balance between customer service and security, Kneib notes that while approaches may vary from district to district, they will to some degree hinge on legal interpretations of custody and care.
For instance, his district has a policy of not refusing entry to a student at a bus stop. So what do you do when a student is not an authorized rider?
Kneib says, for example: “a kid at a bus stop, it’s not their school, it’s not their route. It’s about how much jurisdiction a district wants to take. … If the kid is refused and something happens, what is the liability? We’re trying to work through that as a regional group.”
Roseann Schwaderer consults on state and local conference planning and offers editing/writing services. She is known for her work on special-needs transportation conferences and is editor and publisher of Legal Routes, a bimonthly report on pupil transportation law and compliance written by Peggy Burns.
