District Administration - July 2007 - (Page 32)

SECURITY School Bus Safety Tips NATIONAL SCHOOL SAFETY AND SECURITY SERVICES, A SAFETY CONSULTING ﬁrm in Cleveland, recommends the following precautions for K12 administrators responsible for school bus safety: • Establish pre-employment screening and interviewing protocols for new bus drivers (to identify applicants with criminal records, for example). • Provide transportation staff, including drivers, with training in discipline and managing student behavior, working with special needs students, dealing with irate parents, preparing for emergencies, and knowing state and local security and safety laws. • Conduct school security assessments of school bus depots and associated school transportation facilities. Train drivers on physical security issues related to buses. • Use technology, such as two-way radio and surveillance cameras, on school buses. • On ﬁeld trips, establish safety and emergency planning guidelines, including communications procedures. • Create emergency preparedness guidelines for potential hazards, covering crime and violence as well as natural disasters. • Develop emergency plans with your district, neighboring districts and the broader community. How would you mobilize school buses in a major community emergency? What role do buses have in emergency management for cities and counties? What happens if public safety and emergency management ofﬁcials commandeer your buses? How would an emergency impact gas supplies? Who could drive school buses if regular drivers were unavailable? • Teach school bus drivers to deal with potential trespassers aboard buses, student threat assessment, and warning signs of potential violence. • Train school bus drivers and transportation supervisors how to respond to terrorism-related issues, bomb threats and suspicious devices. Also, train drivers how to inspect buses and increase their observation skills at bus stops and while driving to and from school. • Include school transportation supervisors and school bus drivers when establishing emergency planning procedures for your buildings and district. • Establish procedures for mobilizing transportation services any time, such as mid-day, when drivers are not normally scheduled to work. Consider mutual aid agreements with neighboring school districts for mass, rapid mobilization in an emergency. • Train school bus drivers to interact with public safety ofﬁcials aboard buses, at accident scenes, in on-road emergencies and in emergency situations at schools. Include protocols for dealing with school evacuations, student release procedures, family reuniﬁcation issues and associated matters. • Maintain student rosters, emergency contact numbers and ﬁrst aid kits on buses. • Make school buses available to local law enforcement, SWAT teams and other public safety ofﬁcials for their training exercises. • Hold meetings between bus drivers and school administrators to discuss discipline procedures, safety practices and associated issues. • Practice emergency exercises to evaluate and reﬁne written emergency plans. tion at any time. In 2005, Colorado Springs installed GPS systems on 25 district vehicles and 116 buses, which transport 5,000 students to 60 schools across 70 square miles, Bair says. In its ﬁrst year, a new bus driver got lost in a snow and ice storm that caused gridlock on the city’s streets. A dispatcher consulted the GPS system, tracked the location of the bus, and provided directions that enabled the driver to avoid particularly troublesome spots. “It was a long night for the driver and the students,” Bair recounts, “but we were able to reassure the driver, the students and their parents.” Last year IC Corporation, the nation’s largest school bus maker, installed its GPS units, known as AWARE Vehicle Intelligence, in school buses of 10 New York state districts in an experimental program. Afterward, according to Dane Roth, an IC spokesman, at least ﬁve districts installed more GPS units in their buses. Besides providing location and diagnostic information, the AWARE system enables transportation directors to set up anyone who uses the Web site on which the information gleaned from the GPS is displayed—including superintendents or transportation workers who might monitor bus drivers—with vehicle alerts on their cell phones, pagers, personal digital assistants or any devices capable of receiving text messages. The system can also track fuel economy and idle time, information that can help a transportation director determine the eﬃciency of a district’s fuel use. Other GPS systems have been installed recently in school buses in Houston and Boston. Depending on the GPS system, the satellite feed can be picked up by either radio or, more commonly these days, by cell phone transmission. Settling Disputes Quickly Earlier this year the Kansas City, Kan., Public Schools bought GPS units from Sprint Nextel, whose system includes handsets manufactured by Motorola and equipped with Comet Tracker, a wireless District Administration 32 July 2007

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - July 2007

Contents
Editor’s Letter
Letters
News Update
Facilities/Construction Update
Curriculum Update
Inside the Law
Administrator Profile
District Profile
Cover Story: Rethinking School Bus Safety
Broadening Collective Bargaining
Searching for Subs
Jersey City’s Broad Appeal
Improving Nutrition in Schools
New Products
Computer Literature
How Well Does This Web Site Work?
Research Corner
Problem Solution
Online Edge
Speaking Out
Supervisor’s Opinion
Calendar of Events
Understanding the Times

District Administration - July 2007