Our school bus operators are the first contact many students have with school each morning and the last contact they have each afternoon. Our goal is to make that experience a safe, positive and caring one for all students. One of the things you can do to help, is to notify us if your student is not riding the bus that day. It helps us to be more efficient and to make sure everyone gets to school safely and on time.
About your school bus:
Every day, more than 480,000 yellow school buses across the nation transport estimated 26 million students to and from school. This is a HUGE investment in resources, labor and assets. Buses are very expensive for your school system to buy; fuel is expensive for buses at any price because they typically only get 5-7 miles per gallon because of their size; labor is also expensive. Besides bus drivers, there are mechanics who keep them maintained and road worthy; routers who have to figure out the best way to get kids back and forth from school; administration to coordinate everyone and many others.
About your school bus driver:
In order to receive a School Bus Driver Certificate, candidates must meet very specific requirements established by federal and state laws. All school bus operators are selected based on clean driving records and a strong desire to have a positive impact on students. Prior to training, candidates must first pass written tests at the DMV, pass a Department of Transportation (DOT) Commercial Driver License (CLD), physical and drug test, and pass a national background check. Once they have successfully completed all these requirements, they are then trained and tested by highly skilled professionals, who themselves have received hundreds of hours of instruction. Initial training for a school bus operator can last anywhere from three to five weeks, but requires a minimum of eight ODE recognized classroom hours of training on important issues such as defensive driving and student management.
Further training includes:
Child Abuse Prevention and Reporting
School Suicide Prevention Training
Risk Management and Hazard Communication
Professional Conduct Training
Supporting Students and Families Experiencing Homelessness
Emergency Preparedness Training
Adult Sexual Misconduct: Staff to Student/ Title IX
Information Security Awareness Training
Discrimination, Harassment, Bullying & Retaliation
Professional Conduct Training
and more……
School bus operators come from a variety of backgrounds and education levels. From stay at home parents and retired NASA engineers, to college students and realtors. Regardless of where they came from or how they got here, they have one thing in common; the safety of your student, both physical and emotional, is always at the forefront of their daily interactions with your student.
We encourage you to get to know your student’s school bus operator. They have an ever increasing, challenging (although rewarding) role in our community; a smile or a friendly “good morning” from students and parents goes a long way
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