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JK
Top Member
USA
7307 Posts |
 Posted - 09/27/2007 : 10:19:10 PM
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With eighteen grandchildren scattered around the country there is bound to be discussion about all sorts of things, including the potential for one of our kids to left on the school bus, which was discussed family-wide some two years ago.
Well, today it happened. One of my grandchildren, a preschooler was left on a Head Start school bus alone for about 10 minutes or so.
Both the bus driver and monitor are new employees, 3-days on the job.
Neither the bus driver nor monitor checked the bus before going into the small school to perform their classroom duties. The bus remains at the school during the day.
They have a form that the monitor checks when the child boards the bus and checks again when the children depart the bus at school.
(Although our district has no such form in our district for kindergartners, I made one to track these children. It is not a reliable method to assure safety but remains useful to help keep track of which children are on board during a specific run.)
The teacher and my daughter have a long history together. The teacher noticed my daughter's child was not in class - my daughter calls everytime her child is not attending school.
The teacher checked the school bus and found the child in his seat restraint crying, released him and took him to class.
He was a bit frightened for a time but quickly recovered. After the day at school he rode the bus home sitting in the front seat presenting his usual jolly mood. (jk)
Note: Free brochure (MS Word template) providers can produce and give to parents - "The seven highly effective steps to keeping your child safe" - Click Here for Link
FREE School Bus Safety Ads & Photo Library
Post Check, Hostage Takeover, Bus Fire and special effects photos now available Free to use at websites, in newsletters, memos, the local press, letters to parents and more. This is a very popular Website. If you can't get in bookmark the page and try again later.
There is no school bus driver shortage!
Properly train, effective support and pay that retains. |
Edited by - JK on 09/28/2007 08:35:56 AM
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guzaldo
Advanced Member
421 Posts |
Posted - 09/28/2007 : 01:25:30 AM
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Sorry that happened to one of yours. Being only on the job 3 days suprises me as most kids left bahind are by old salts who think they know it all. New drivers usually follow the training to the letter of the law.
We only have one grand gaughter and worry about her all the time she is bused in Indinana at a district where my wife once worked as a trainer/driver.
Hope all is well with the little one. |
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coolbusdriver
Top Member
Canada
1509 Posts |
Posted - 09/28/2007 : 09:54:59 AM
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| was there any discipline for the driver and monitor? Glad to hear your grandson is OK |
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Carp_26
Administrator
United States
170 Posts |
Posted - 09/28/2007 : 3:27:15 PM
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| As a Supervisor at a Head Start Site, I feel compelled to reply and tell you our policies. My drivers have a clipboard in hand, the parent signs the child onto the bus (in care, custody, and control of the bus driver). The driver and bus aide take the children into my building where the teacher signs (on the same form) that they are receiving the children into their classroom. At the end of the day, the teacher signs the child back onto the driver's form / clipboard and the parent signs the child off the bus. We also have a policy that no child is to be behind the bus aide while on the bus. In other words, the bus aide sits in the rear of the bus and moves forward as the children get off. I can assure you if this happened in my program, there would be disciplinary action, even termination. I'm not sure about your state, but under our local licensing, we are goverened by Ohio Department of Job and Family Services - Child Care Licensing, a report must be made within 24 hours to the licensing specialist in a situation as this. I can assure you the licensing specialist would be in my building the next day. Also glad to hear your grandson is OK and still likes to ride the bus. |
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JK
Top Member
USA
7307 Posts |
Posted - 09/29/2007 : 04:00:28 AM
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It is a known nationwide fact that a child left behind on the school bus is becoming too common an occurrence.
With my grandson having experienced no apparent trauma or other issue it allows our family networking to focus on keeping children safe and the opportunity to experience what happens next concerning one specific situation - not a scientific study by any measure.
Having now experienced this issue in a more intimate fashion I am beginning to understand one-reason parents can become so angry beyond the event itself and eventually taking an issue to the press and an attorney.
The only information my daughter has been provided has come from her child's teacher early on -- that the child was on the bus alone for some ten minutes (?) or so, and that, "The problem is being taken care of."
Head Start management soon after went into a lawyer's mindset mode, refusing to provide the parent additional details or even confirming what happened, any changes being considered in the child check process and the status of the bus driver and monitor.
She did notice a new bus driver and the same monitor now on the bus, but the monitor now sitting in the back of the bus, one of a few recommendations she had communicated to Head Start earlier that day:
"That the monitor should be required to sit in the back of the school bus during the route, assisting as necessary, then returning to the last seat."
The responses from Head Start seems to indicate that they have lawyered-up, are acting like the child is a commodity that they produced and own, and refusing to give any additional details about how the event happened and how they intend to correct it.
Head Start management would not provide basic information concerning the event, the current status of the employees involved, or even defining the protocols involved which Head Start already has good information concerning these things but did not provide the concerned parent.
When every question my daughter asked was responded, "We have a protocol for that," refusing to define that protocol, my daughter then, and only at that point, then became annoyed.
That sort of treatment toward a parent concerning an issue this serious, at least procedurally and politically in this instance, requires lots of ongoing information from beginning to finish. It ought to be obvious that close and frequent communications help calm most any parent and create an environment that can assure the parent that children are protected on Head Start's school buses.
And so again I'm beginning to understand the anger that can come from some of the more protective parents when locked out of an event in the fashion my daughter is experiencing. It explains a lot.
Her annoyance increased when asking about the status of the bus driver and monitor. The response was, "We have a protocol for that."
I looked up Head Start's protocols at their national Website. So far this was found concerning this issue:
Protocols have been developed for FY 2007 to facilitate monitoring of program services and management systems. The protocols can provide directors a framework for monitoring compliance in the area of Transportation Services. The protocols are designed to guide self-assessment teams through monitoring of specific standards and have been organized around a set of key questions which identify Head Start/Early Head Start program requirements.
Last Revision March 13, 2007
Question 2N
... Does the agency maintain lists of the persons, including alternates in case of emergency, and up-to-date child rosters at all times to ensure that no child is left behind, either at the classroom or on the vehicle at the end of the route?
1310.10(g) Click Here for source
Some years ago I made a similar form for use with my kindergarten children. It is a useful tool to help me keep track of what children are present on the bus during a specific run, but not useful as a child check device.
Most of us here have become somewhat paranoid over this issue, more so than what is usually common in our nation's workplaces. Our sensitivity to checking the bus dominates our reasoning, not reliance on forms and gadgets. It is my guess that this specific provider has been training more on relying on forms and gadgets and not focused enough on insuring sleeper checks when it is time for that activity.
My daughter has become more upset at Head Start management than at the bus driver and monitor involved. She understands that people can make stupid mistakes and does not consider this mistake by a new employee to be so devastating that 'start to finish' information need be withheld from the parent. She understands that an extreme emotional response from her would not be helpful when working together is what can help better protect all children from this sort of mistake.
When working together is not happening from Head Start management toward the parent, a question can arise concerning how well Head Start management is working together with their own employees?
I can imagine how this Head Start provider would sound in the press - so very caring about children, so very critical of the bus driver they quickly trained and sent into the fire to keep their buses rolling.
My daughter wants assurances that help protect her child and the other children from this sort of mistake -- not her child misused yet again to scapegoat a bus driver that made a stupid mistake. She does not want her child used as a commodity to maltreat others, including the parent in this specific case.
To be in the middle of one of these events and remaining calm, you begin to realize how dirty the closet can be behind the scenes. Here's a parent and family network that is empathetic toward most mistakes school employees can make.
Look at the behavior of the school bus transportation provider's management in this instance.
Is that behavior going to work out well with our family?
Is blocking information from my daughter and playing head games involving her child going to provide the reassurance that her child and other children are safe on Head Start's school buses?
It is a blessing when a mistake happens that does not result in an injury or death. Any that dispute this I would respond to ask any parent suffering a deceased child that if it could be different, that if the child instead survived without injury or death, how would that feel? Like a curse? - (I would think not.)
Such events provide the truth where a lie dwelled, a warning from Mother Nature (or a Heaven sent message) that a promise has been broken and that a system that promised safe passage for children is flawed.
Management, administrations and school boards have a certain responsibility to have in place proper training, supervision, practices and processes that work to help those on the workplace front lines keep children safe.
And this I now finally have come to understand. That one of the most effective ways to determine genuine empathy from adults holding important positions in our community is not to come to a conclusion based on how these adults demonstrate empathy toward children, but to also consider how empathetic the same adults are toward the decent adults in our community that make a stupid mistake that results in no harm done.
My daughter and our family have demonstrated an empathic response to an event that does not require it, explaining herself and her motives, "This is about children, not bus drivers."
If some do not understand my daughter's reasoning on behalf of her child, I'm sorry for that - I must have explained it wrong somehow. Myself am proud of how my daughter is managing this event.
She's about to get a wave of support to help restore her child and my grandchild from a Head Start commodity back into a child. (jk)
There is no school bus driver shortage!
Properly train, effective support and pay that retains. |
Edited by - JK on 09/29/2007 04:59:19 AM |
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JK
Top Member
USA
7307 Posts |
Posted - 09/29/2007 : 11:40:18 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by Carp_26
... We also have a policy that no child is to be behind the bus aide while on the bus. In other words, the bus aide sits in the rear of the bus and moves forward as the children get off. I can assure you if this happened in my program, there would be disciplinary action, even termination. ...
Carp_26, Thank your for the feedback. It's odd that my daughter's local Head Start management would not have responded in similar fashion.
It's interesting, our family networking came up with virtually the same conclusion, recommending the monitor sit in the back of the bus until needed, then returning to the back of the bus.
Couldn't find a reference to that activity at Head Start's national Website yet, but simply made sense to cover kids that way.
The termination aspect has been discounted in this case, especially since the bus driver, which seems to be the one no longer driving the bus, is too new on the job to be expecting perfect outcomes.
A forum member here once mentioned that Greyhound bus drivers must log a hundred hours on the buses, either riding the buses or assisted behind the wheel (don't remember which) before allowed behind the wheel alone transporting adults. What is our industry's requirement before allowing a school bus driver behind the wheel alone transporting children?
My daughter's request was, "That the bus driver and monitor receive a written reprimand and perhaps unpaid suspension for a few days."
She made it clear that she was not after termination of either employee. "This is about children, not bus drivers." From her perspective this means she is not willing to allow her child again misused as a commodity (or device) to overdo disciplining anyone. She made it clear from the beginning that she did not want the bus driver or monitor to lose their jobs.
A rational, a reasonable and a levelheaded thinking parent in my opinion. Proud of her. (jk)
There is no school bus driver shortage!
Properly train, effective support and pay that retains.
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Edited by - JK on 09/29/2007 11:51:36 AM |
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Ryan2589
Senior Member
United States
98 Posts |
Posted - 09/30/2007 : 8:34:44 PM
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| I am glad your grandchild is ok. It irks me everytime I read a story about a child being left behind on a bus, I just don't understand how drivers and in this case an aide can leave a bus without checking it. I know I check mine before leaving school and then at the yard. I can re-call even after getting into my car, going back to my bus to check it a 3rd time just because I had an uneasy feeling. I used to work at a Boys & Girls Club, I know when the Headstart bus came, I noticed the driver always sat in the back and then would walk the child to the bus door where I would meet him/her and sign the form to release the child. In the morning I would sign the child on. Its a shame this is such a problem. |
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Thomasbus24
Administrator
USA
4547 Posts |
Posted - 10/01/2007 : 12:53:14 PM
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Oh all the people for this to happen to...what are the odds?
JK, I thank God that your grandson is okay, and I've venture to say that that pair (driver and monitor) won't soon forget to check again! |
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JK
Top Member
USA
7307 Posts |
Posted - 10/04/2007 : 9:31:59 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Thomasbus24
Oh all the people for this to happen to...what are the odds?
JK, I thank God that your grandson is okay, and I've venture to say that pair (driver and monitor) won't soon forget to check again!
It seems high odds, but not entirely unexpected.
I believe these events are occurring a whole lot more than reported, and many are handled similar to how it was handled in my grandchild's case.
Someone has to act out in public or sue or a child dies before the press usually notice. It is simply my belief that people getting along hardly pulls much interest in the press.
How would you even present in the national breaking news parents and providers getting along with their bus drivers when a mistake happens?
If it don't somehow bleed, it don't lead. (jk)
There is no school bus driver shortage!
Properly train, effective support and pay that retains.
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Edited by - JK on 10/04/2007 9:33:48 PM |
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Brad Barker
Administrator
USA
874 Posts |
Posted - 10/14/2007 : 08:49:51 AM
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| As a pre-caution and to avoid legal liabilities in our district we installed CRS Child Check Monitors on our entire fleet. The system is fairly fool proof requiring the driver to walk to the rear of the bus to disarm the system before the front door can be opened. If the door is opened before disarming the system a loud alarm or the vehicle horn sounds. Costs were very reasonable at $48.00 per bus for the system and an additional $6.50 for door switches on buses that have outward opening doors. A few inexpensive wire connectors are needed to hook up the system & a couple of screws for mounting the controler. Labor ranges from 45 minutes to 1.5 hours per bus depending on bus style . Utilizes all existing wiring with the exception of the door switch which needs a wire run from the loading light module to the entrance door. This system arms after ten minutes of operation of the bus and if the loading lights are used. Drivers get used to them very fast. Out of 30 drivers I have only received one negative comment. |
Brad A. Barker |
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JK
Top Member
USA
7307 Posts |
Posted - 10/14/2007 : 10:25:02 AM
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Don't know if Head Start's buses in my daughter's area have such devices - probably not. Although certainly helpful, not debating the benefit, still seems unsettling to rely on gadgets and forms and bus drivers that can all fail. What happens after a missed procedure can bring termination or experience. With the current turnover in our industry I would want experience when possible behind the wheel of my grandchildren’s school buses. My daughter provided for that opportunity to help keep kids safe. That new bus driver is turning out to be an excellent school bus driver – approaches and departs her child’s stop with noticeable caution. Her child likes that driver and the monitor is now sitting in the rear area of the bus where she is supposed to sit as well. Glad my daughter chose her adulthood right to restore rather than to destroy. I would think the safety of the kids is better managed now -- all that accomplished without a lynching. Good for my grandchild and good for our industry. (jk)
Note: Free brochure (MS Word template) providers can produce and give to parents - "The seven highly effective steps to keeping your child safe" - Click Here for Link
FREE School Bus Safety Ads & Photo Library
Post Check, Hostage Takeover, Bus Fire and special effects photos now available Free to use at websites, in newsletters, memos, the local press, letters to parents and more. This is a very popular Website. If you can't get in bookmark the page and try again later.
There is no school bus driver shortage!
Properly train, effective support and pay that retains.
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dem84skeeprollinup
Top Member
USA
888 Posts |
Posted - 10/18/2007 : 10:07:41 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Brad Barker
Labor ranges from 45 minutes to 1.5 hours per bus depending on bus style . Utilizes all existing wiring with the exception of the door switch which needs a wire run from the loading light module to the entrance door.
We are testing this system on our new IC FE right now. Between our master mechanic and our junior mechanic, it took 30-40 minutes to do a complete install.
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Do the world a favor and bring back GMC and Ford conventional chassis......
 
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Northern SBD
Senior Member
75 Posts |
Posted - 10/29/2007 : 10:06:15 PM
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| I didn't think I would like the Child Check Monitor when I got my new bus last year. It seemed almost insulting to think that a buzzer should have to warn me to check the bus seats after all runs. But I LOVE the system now .... It is set up that the horn and lights will flash if the button at the back isn't push within a certain amount of time so you never get the chance to forget to push the button. The reason I like it is that I never have to hestitate and wonder if I did a check or not (after a hard week, my memory isn't quite as sharp and I can't always remember if I did something today's run or if that was yesterday's. I know that I walked through the bus after each and every run ...or the damn honk would still be blaring and the head lights flashing... |
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NathanW
Advanced Member
United States
313 Posts |
Posted - 11/01/2007 : 4:49:28 PM
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| My problem with the system is that the buzzer by the back door is so loud I can barely hear the chimes in the front (telling me the system is reset). |
Nathan--Driver Extraordinaire |
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JK
Top Member
USA
7307 Posts |
Posted - 11/03/2007 : 2:44:20 PM
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... after a hard week, my memory isn't quite as sharp and I can't always remember if I did something today's run or if that was yesterday's. I know that I walked through the bus after each and every run ...or the damn honk would still be blaring and the head lights flashing...
Yes, Yes! There is no flaw in the reality that fatigue, stress and other distractions can result in missing a step. There is a simple test that can check a person's memory health:
To test your memory, take a seven-digit number and memorize it. If you can still remember the number after five minutes, you're fine; if you can't pick it out of a list of three, that's early Alzheimer's. If you just forget some digits, though, you're probably an average guy experiencing some brain aging. Then again, who says you have to be average? ~By Dr. Mehmet Oz
Here's another simple brain aging test that can help determine brain health (- pdf - right click and safe to file): Right Click for file.
Free Online Memory Test -- Word List Recall -- on the Brain Fitness Channel.
Click Here for a free on-line brain test.
If memory is decent then something else can still happen that results in a missed step during the run and after the run. Stressful events on the route can interfere - period! Managers ought to be smart enough in this profession to know that when the route has been a hassle for the driver or the driver is tired or sick that then missing parts of the post-check is a possibility.
To assume that missing a step means the bus driver involved is just lazy and probably misses performing other tasks as well is neither scientific, nor so unusual for the average person anyway. Too much attacking the bus driver with that level of criticism can be considered harassment - I would suggest drivers push back at that retaliatory behavior from others when attacked this way.
Who are so many districts hiring these days - the perfect? -- or most any warm body to get behind the wheel of their buses? Do they even have the potential new hire take a simple memory test? A psychological test?
There is no significant professional position outside this industry that did not include me taking a psychological test.
We lost two more drivers at our community's facility this past Friday, putting more pressure on our facility to keep our buses rolling. VersaTran, along with other payroll manipulations added drivers and cut the routes down for most drivers to less than five hours per day. VersaTran made a mess of the routes to boot. We are losing drivers faster than they can be replaced.
One 8-year experienced school bus driver now has escalated himself a payraise to $3,000 per month driving local runs for a trucking firm. His reason for leaving: Have to be able to pay the bills and feed his family. Did he need $3,000 per month? No, but he does need more than he's paid now under a new management scheme, and couldn't get it.
A single mom (a new driver I believe) quit the same day. She is going to work at a major chain store warehouse. And again, substantially increased her situation to a LIVING INCOME and medical benefits for her family to boot.
Our fleet now is made up of mostly inexperienced drivers, many of who are vulnerable to a huge array of mistakes that pale the missed child issue.
Why have so many of our most experienced school bus drivers left?
There is no school bus driver shortage at most facilities claiming a so-called shortage, in my opinion. But there may be a shortage of management 'people expertise.' We can't keep the help.
Too many managers simply can not seem to understand that few employees, if any, can get rid of all their bad work habits on their own -- some these days have no work ethic. Bad work habits (or no work ethic) have to be replaced with good habits and a work ethic - and that requires management encouragement, supervision, and drivers accumulating experience. They have to have a passion for the work. If that passion is stolen from them by a bully manager, what remains?
At many failing facilities the dysfunctional manager dishes out training and orders with no intention of overseeing the progress - just reacts to a malevent, and scapegoat's the bus driver while hoping the big bosses don't catch on.
We have no child-check devices or any other real monitoring other than a check on a form that the bus was checked for a sleeping child. For me, and with the sensitivity to this issue acquired from visiting these forums remains adequate but not guaranteed. For all those new drivers? (jk)
More on this issue and other work related issues in the new Hostile Workplace Thread. Together we can make a differenc in this industry - starting with ourselves. Click Here for link.
Ten Things That Bad Managers Do, by Cyndi Maxey, CSP
According to management researcher Chandra Louise, 80% of the employees who quit their jobs do so because of problems with their bosses. While they may give the human resources staff other reasons for quitting, they will tell their friends, "I’d still be there even for that pittance of a salary if it weren’t for that awful boss." Click Here for source.
The number one ager is stress
Dr. Mehmet Oz says the "major agers"—the activities that age us the quickest—include a diet high in fat and sugar, not getting enough exercise, lack of sleep and too much exposure to the sun. The number one ager is stress. ~Click Here for full story
Take charge of your health! Dr. Mehmet Oz shares the ideal age when you should begin getting health tests for many serious health threats:
Age 20: Cholesterol test
Age 21: For women, gynecology exam and pap smear (get tested earlier if sexually active)
Age 35: Blood sugar, anemia and thyroid exams
Age 40: For women, mammogram (start at age 25 if you have had two female relatives with breast cancer). Also, for men and women, skin exam by partner (take pictures of moles) and baseline electrocardiogram (a test that records the electrical activity of the heart)
Age 50: Colonoscopy (get one every five years). Also, for men, prostate test
Age 50–60: Exercise stress test or coronary CTA (if obese or diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes)
Age 55–60: Thyroid-stimulating hormone blood test (used to detect problems affecting the thyroid gland); memory test (Tell a complex story and repeat key points or have someone tell you a phone number and see if you can remember it—if you can't pick it out of a list of numbers, this could be a sign of early Alzheimer's disease.)
Note - Over 100 free templates delivered each month since June 2007 to school districts, transportation providers, police and fire safety units, government agencies, the press, school bus drivers and parent safety associations: Click the link to receive this customizable Free brochure (MS Word template) that can be reproduced and given to parents - "The seven highly effective steps to keeping your child safe" - Click Here for Link
FREE School Bus Safety Ads & Photo Library
Post Check, Hostage Takeover, Bus Fire and special effects photos now available Free to use at websites, in newsletters, memos, the local press, letters to parents and more. This is a very popular Website. If you can't get in bookmark the page and try again later.
There is no school bus driver shortage!
Properly train, effective support and pay that retains.
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Edited by - JK on 11/04/2007 10:58:43 PM |
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My grandson left on school bus
