High school students serve as bus monitors

DANVERS, Mass. — After fifth graders in a survey identified bullying on the school bus as the biggest onboard safety concern, D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) Police Officer Olivia Silva came up with a plan to improve safety based in part on research on bullying she had done in a master's degree program.

In Silva's pilot program, high school juniors and seniors will ride on school buses with elementary school students to serve as monitors, the Danvers Herald reports.

The high school students are members of Students Against Destructive Decisions and attend a three-hour training program before becoming bus monitors. The training covers street safety, recognizing bullying, and responsibilities and limitations, and it includes time on the bus learning about bus safety, evacuation procedures and how to help the driver.

The students are trained to assist the bus driver and alert him or her if incidents arise.