School Bus Driver Unions and the Need for Special Understanding

By Peggy A. Burns

We all know that drivers of students with special needs have to be special themselves. At a recent conference, one school transportation administrator bemoaned the fact that the union doesn’t seem to recognize this, and it demands that seniority alone be the deciding factor in who can bid successfully for a special needs route. In this district, the union was the barrier to choosing the right person for the job. In another district, the board of education’s policies – or your own – may have created the unintended consequence of limiting the pool of drivers for this critical work without regard to true qualifications.

As with so many areas, the “fix” is likely to be related to your efforts to educate necessary people. I wonder what would happen if union representatives or board members accompanied you on several real special needs routes. Perhaps they would begin to understand the unique challenges that ride along on these routes. Show them “The Road to Compliance for Special Needs Drivers.” Expose them to the wide variety of equipment that travels along with special needs students. In short, let them know what’s behind your insistence – and you must be insistent about this – that the right people be in the right positions.

Peggy Burns is an attorney and consultant, owner of Education Compliance Group, Inc. and a regular contributor to School Transportation News. She is the developer of four video training programs, “The Road to Compliance for Special Needs Drivers," “Putting the Brakes on Harassment: Training for School Bus Drivers,” “Steering Clear of Liability: Training for School Bus Drivers, and “Confidential Records: Training for School Bus Drivers.” Peggy can be reached at (888) 604-6141 or ecginc@qwestoffice.net.

Back to the Basics

By Peggy A. Burns

In the last 10 days, I’ve become aware of decisions and deliberations that have important implications. These newsworthy items provoked considerable thought on my part – I knew they were important...but were they important to school transportation professionals?

One, a U.S. Supreme Court decision in Safford U.S.D. v. Redding, concerned a strip search of a then-13-year old girl who was suspected of possession of over-the-counter medication in violation of school district policy. A second, another U.S. Supreme Court opinion – this, in the case of Forest Grove School District v. TA – held that the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act authorizes reimbursement for private special-education services when a public school fails to provide FAPE and the private-school placement is appropriate, regardless of whether the child previously received special-education services throught the public school. The third item was the testimony of Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. concerning proposed legistation – the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009 – that would, among other things, create a new Federal criminal hate crimes statute. The bill would strengthen and broaden Federal hate crimes legislation, to cover hate crimes committed because of the victim’s sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or disability. Currently, such victims can recover money damages under a number of federal and state statutes, and state, local, and tribal criminal laws address widely such crimes.

These are important issues to be sure, and, as informed citizens, school transportation professionals should be aware of them. But, if you’re like me, the more issues that demand your attention – especially in ways that suggest, whether subtly or otherwise – that you should take steps to address them in your professional context – the more Maalox moments you have.

So, I want to challenge my colleagues to focus, still, on “the basics,” the situations which pose regular threats to student safety, which distract you from your other duties, and which compromise your already dwindling budgets. These are the situations that are reflected, day-in and day-out in the headlines and on court dockets: such issues as fighting among students on the school bus; student-to-student harassment and bullying; appropriate choice and use of equipment, services, and trained staff in the transportation of students with and without disabilities; recruiting, maintaining, assessing and training of a competent, productive and competent workforce; effective routing and scheduling. . .and it goes on, and on. My theme is that you need to know a lot, balance and juggle even more, and identify and take necessary measures in a whole host of concerns that demand your daily attention. Be aware of these highly significant and national issues, but don’t let them pose serious distractions for you – at least not until you’ve got all the others well under control.

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

H1N1 and its Effect on Children with Disabilities

The panic surrounding the “swine flu” that went global in late April and early May has subsided, but health officials have warned that a new strain could emerge this fall in time for fall. Back to school always elicits extra care by school officials in dealing with infectious diseases, as once again children and their germs mingle in the classroom, on the playground and in the yellow school bus. Now, a report released earlier this month indicates that children with special needs must be especially cautious.

We’ve known that the H1N1 virus can be fatal to anyone with underlying conditions, with most severe cases occuring in people over 65 or under 18. New York City’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene puts into context why those with underlying medical conditions should take extra precautions to avoid the flu and should contact their doctor as soon as possible if they are found to have flu-like symptoms.

The department’s preliminary analysis of 152 patients who were hospitalized for swine flu showed that 82 percent had an underlying condition, specifically:
• 41 percent of patients hospitalized for swine flu had asthma
• 18 percent were less than 2 years old
• 13 percent had a compromised immune system
• 12 percent had heart disease
• Other factors include being pregnant; other chronic lung problems, such as emphysema; chronic heart, kidney, liver or blood disorders; neurological disorders that cause breathing problems; diabetes; and being under 18 years old and on long-term aspirin therapy.

Is your school team taking special or additional precautions to protect special needs passengers? Does pre-service training differ this year when it comes to dealing with infectious diseases on the school bus?

Highlights of the Week

On the ongoing theme of teaching pupil transporters about their special needs riders, Bright Hub has an interesting rundown on Muscular Dystrophy. The site offers some tips for educators in working on IEPs for students with the conditions, but the lessons could well apply to pupil transporters.

"Teachers need to work closely with therapists to ensure they understand the progress of the condition, and how it impacts on classroom activities, and particularly on safety for the student."

Meanwhile, one California school district is focusing on keeping students in the loop when it comes to their classmates with special needs with a class designed to teach them about their peers.

"I realize that I never thought about that people have so many challenges in their lives." 10-year-old Francesca Ferraro.

A Virginia paper examines the rising use of taxis in school transportation, something we looked at last summer. The service is expensive, but needed given the lack of services available for homeless and special needs students, administrators say.

"These are students who already have a tumultuous life ... So the point of providing taxicabs is to make sure they have as much consistency as possible in terms of where they go to school every day." Amy Carlini, spokeswoman for Alexandria City Public Schools