The Dexter Leader
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Drivers delivering precious cargo
By Crystal Hayduk, Special Writer
PUBLISHED: May 1, 2008
When it comes to student transportation, parents often have to juggle a great many mixed feelings.
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There's the pride and anxiety on the first morning a tiny kindergartner climbs on to that enormous yellow bus all alone; righteous anger when a child comes home crying because another kid was mean at the bus stop; and confusion regarding the lack of seatbelts on the bus despite strict enforcement of such restraints in the family car.
And, at the very worst, there's the apprehension on hearing the tragic news about a child killed in a school bus accident.
Local school transportation officials were eager to put parents' minds at ease about these and other questions, and explain just how safe our children are on school buses.
History of school busing
Student transportation began in the late 1800s, but it was not universally available. Students in rural areas rode to school in horse-drawn carts that were loaned by local farmers.
Once gas-powered vehicles were invented, trucks became the preferred method of student transportation.
The modern school bus industry appeared in the 1920s and '30s as the nation's roadways expanded.
With the increased amount of traffic, several serious disasters involving school buses led to the development of the first safety standards in 1939.
This was followed by the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966 and the School Bus Safety Amendments of 1974.
According to the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services, school buses are now required to meet or exceed all federal safety standards for any vehicle, in addition to many that are specific to school buses.
The school bus itself
Transportation administrators, drivers, and mechanics all agree on one thing: the school bus is the safest way to transport a child. School buses afford a great deal of protection by size and weight alone.
Jim Zenz, the Chelsea School District's head mechanic, confirmed that a bus is built on a truck chassis and a bus body mounted on a frame of two I-beams.
The framing elements are made with heavy-gauge steel collision beams covered by heavy-gauge steel plates and set higher than most other vehicles on the road.
CSD mechanic Bob Ryan explained that instead of seat belts, students are protected by "compartmentalization," a passive restraint system.
This compartment is made by closely placed seats with energy-absorbent padding provided by the seat and back cushions.
According to the School Bus Information Council, school buses have additional safety features such as a braking system that allows a bus to stop in a shorter distance than other vehicles of similar size.
School buses are also equipped with rollover protection and fuel system protection to decrease the chance of a catastrophic outcome in the event of a severe crash.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration records impressive statistics when it comes to school buses.
Each year about 450,000 public school buses travel 4.3 billion miles to transport 23.5 million children in the United States, yet an average of only six children per year die in a school bus crash.
School buses are seven times safer than cars or light trucks (0.2 fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles traveled on buses, compared to 1.44 fatalities in cars or light trucks).
Inspections
The Chelsea School District has 39 buses that cover 120 square miles; Dexter Community Schools has 37 buses that cover 88 square miles. Each district has two mechanics to maintain the buses and provide routine inspections every 2,000 miles.
The Michigan State Police is the agency responsible for conducting annual bus inspections.
Sgt. Sharron VanCampen, head of the MSP school bus inspection program stationed in Lansing, said that the 198-point school bus inspections are done without prior notice in order to get a real picture of how a district functions on any given day.
She noted that both Chelsea and Dexter routinely earn the highest marks in their inspections.
School bus drivers
The safety of every child on a school bus is probably more dependent on the skills and judgment of the bus driver than any other factor in the transportation system.
"Safety is our number-one priority," said Chris Frayer, transportation supervisor for Chelsea.
"Our bus drivers take personal pride in their profession. It's not just a job to them."
Dexter transportation chief Robert Poor is also very proud of his staff of drivers, their driving records and their relationship with the children they serve.
Chelsea bus drivers Roger DeLong and Connie Cook, and Deneen Smith, a driver and trainer for Dexter, talked openly about the many aspects of the work they do.
In the wee hours of the morning, while children are still sleeping snug in their warm beds, the drivers are already at work.
They brave the cold, wind, rain, snow and fog in the early morning darkness to prepare the buses for the first route of the day.
In cold weather, the driver starts the bus's engine first, to warm up the interior for the comfort of the precious cargo.
Each driver is responsible for performing his or her own 66-point pre-trip inspection of the bus.
Cook and Smith pointed out that the bus driver is the first and last school representative with whom a student has contact each day.
Conceivably, a student could have the same bus driver for his or her entire school career, making the bus driver the one person who has the longest ongoing school relationship with the child.
Driver training is rigorous, both physically and mentally. A person interested in bus driving has to first apply through the school district's transportation department.
A candidate must be fingerprinted, pass a pre-employment drug screening and, of course, have a good driving record. Drivers also undergo annual physical exams as a condition of continuing employment.
Frayer, Cook and Smith described the numerous preparatory classes that drivers take.
First they must pass beginning bus driver training to receive a temporary permit. Drivers need several endorsements on their licenses, including Chauffeur's Class B, Passenger Bus, and an air brake endorsement.
They also take defensive driver training. In alternating years they maintain and improve their skills through courses in advanced bus training.
All drivers are certified in CPR and first aid, and random drug and alcohol testing is a federal requirement.
Road conditions, especially in rural areas, can be the bane of a bus driver's day. When asked about the challenges of driving on unpaved roads, the drivers groaned.
"Early spring can be the worst, with all the mud and holes," said DeLong. "Freezing rain on top of already slick roads just makes the ice even worse."
Added Cook: "Depending on the condition of the dirt road, we may have to avoid the sides of the road and make our stops in the middle due to ditches and piled snow,"
Cook's opinion is that fog is the biggest weather-related issue besides snow and ice; and pre-dawn darkness presents a daily visibility challenge.
Upon returning to the bus garage, drivers check the interior of the bus to make sure no child is left behind, and conduct a post-trip inspection of the vehicle.
If a driver finds lost possessions, they are either held for a few days in hopes that the owner will ask for them or they are taken to the lost-and-found box at the bus garage.
The drivers were unanimous on one drawback of the job.
"We don't have eyes in the back of our head," said Cook, bringing up the next factor in bus safety - the passengers.
Students
Parents are universally familiar with children misbehaving in the back seat of the car, and its effect on the concentration needed to drive.
Now imagine what it would be like to wield a 10-ton, 40-foot-long school bus through heavy traffic or bad weather with about 70 children that you are responsible for.
That's what the drivers do every day, and to do it safely requires the cooperation of every passenger and parent.
Expected behavior on the way to school and back home is no different than the hours spent at school.
At the beginning of every school year, both school districts send home a written list of rules regarding appropriate behavior on the bus.
Parents are to review these rules with their children, and the students are expected to sign a statement that they both understand and agree to the rules.
Discipline is enforced in Chelsea first between the driver and the student. If the behavior recurs, a written form is sent home requiring a parent's signature. The school principal also receives a copy.
Three incidents results in the student being suspended from riding the bus. Because the suspension is not from school, it then becomes the parent's responsibility to provide transportation, according to Frayer.
Smith explained that Dexter has a similar system to enforce discipline, but a parent gets a "courtesy notice" for a first infraction.
This form spells out the misbehavior in hopes that the family will discuss it and there won't be any further problem.
A formal "bus misconduct notice" is sent home for a second incident. Specific misconduct lead to specific consequences. For example, littering results in a bus misconduct notice, with recurrences resulting in up to 10 days of bus suspension.
However, the first incident of bringing a weapon on the bus would result in suspension for the remainder of the year.
Drivers and administrators in both districts agree that middle school children represent the most difficult discipline issues.
"The older kids might use foul language, and can be disrespectful to the drivers," said DeLong.
Chelsea's school schedule puts children from kindergarten through grade 12 on the same bus; whereas Dexter's two-tiered system transports children in grades 5 through 12 on their first run, and children in grades 1 through 4 on their second run.
Both districts seat the youngest children in the front and the oldest in the back in order to keep some level of separation.
Good behavior on the bus is a safety requirement. Children who put themselves at risk by moving while the bus is in motion, or extending body parts out the window; or who put others at risk by bullying in any form are a distraction to the driver.
Michael Martin, Executive Director of the National Association for Pupil Transportation in New York, said local school districts are responsible for establishing the behavior guidelines for school bus passengers.
"The interior atmosphere of a school bus mirrors the changed and often challenging issues we face in society in general," Martin said.
"Incidents that require and receive the response of multiple community resources when they happen elsewhere also tend to show up at school bus stops and inside the bus.
"The burden of dealing with these issues cannot be laid entirely at the feet of a school bus driver just because they show up in the school transportation environment," he added.
"Remember, a school bus driver's primary job is driving the bus."
Chelsea and Dexter drivers agreed that school administrators are very supportive of them and help immensely with discipline problems.
Parents
"If we notify the parent of a behavior problem, and the parent doesn't support us, it really creates more of a problem," said DeLong.
Safety is heightened when parents reinforce the rules that are taught at school, such as staying at least 10 feet away from the bus on all sides.
Parents can help children to arrive at the bus stop at least five minutes ahead of the scheduled bus arrival time.
"Sometimes a child misses the bus and the parent will follow the bus to the next stop," Cook said.
"If the parent allows a child to come up from behind the bus, we can't see them. If they have to go to a different stop, they should take a route that allows them to be in front of the bus so we can see them." said Cook.
Frayer had a few suggestions for other motorists who share the road with school buses.
"When you're at a stop sign and a bus is coming the other way, don't try to beat the bus by turning out in front of it, or if you're behind a school bus and the amber lights come on, that means it's preparing to stop, so slow down," he said.
"When parents are dropping off or picking up their children at school, they need to do so in the allocated areas only, staying away from the lots where the buses are," Frayer said.
Transportation staff unanimously stressed that parents and students need to remember that the ride to school on a bus will take longer than the same ride in a car.
The bus picks up many students at many locations, and the route is carefully planned to maximize child safety.
Even so, most students ride for less than an hour. Extended ride time is one of the most common reasons given by parents who choose not to transport their children via the school bus.
"But to keep this in perspective, it is not unusual for students in the Upper Peninsula to ride the bus for two hours each way," said VanCampen.
"Thanks for the ride!"
Bus monitors are available on buses that transport children with special needs, an invaluable help to the driver.
Karen Knight of Chelsea and Hope LaCombe of Dexter are assistant transportation directors. They handle much of the day-to-day operations, assigning field trips, and working directly with the drivers.
"Hope is a very important person around here - we couldn't do it without her," said Poor.
What's the best part about the hard work done by members of the pupil transportation system, from the federal to the local levels? Knowing that each child is home, safe and sound, at the end of the school day.
A costly mistake
Cpl. Michael Williams of the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Department makes it his business to follow up on every reported stop arm violation.
A "stop arm violation" is defined as a vehicle passing a stopped bus that has its red lights on and the stop sign extended.
The law states that a vehicle traveling in either direction must stop at least 20 feet away from a stopped bus.
Anyone can report this violation to local police. Bus drivers even have copies of the complaint form available to make it easier to report.
The basic information needed is the license plate number, a description of the vehicle and the driver, as well as the date and time.
Williams then checks the information to see if the report makes sense. For example, he will note whether the reported plate number matches the vehicle on record.
"Throughout the county we average 75 to 80 complaints a year that have enough correct information to follow through, so you can imagine how many more there really are where the witness was unable to get the license plate number," said Williams.
Passing a stopped school bus is considered a civil infraction, and a first offense carries a penalty of a $280 fine and three points on the violator's driver's license.
Most violations occur in the morning when people heading to work and buses heading to school are sharing the road.
"I really believe that in most cases people don't intend to pass a stopped bus, or they just don't understand the potential for hitting a child if they do," Williams said.
"People are just in a hurry, or thinking about other things - maybe fiddling with their stereo or talking on a cell phone.
"People just need to slow down and think about the consequences," he added.
"Think more about the safety of the children than getting somewhere a few minutes faster."
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