The three national school transportation associations that joined to form the Student Transportation Aligned for Return To School (STARTS) Task Force are offering a series of webinars addressing critical pupil transportation issues to consider as schools reopen for in-person instruction.

The five new 45-minute interactive online video events, which are part of the Student Transportation Aligned for Return To School (STARTS) initiative, will be held every Tuesday, at 12:00 p.m. Eastern Time starting Aug. 11, according to an email the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services (NASDPTS) sent to members on Wednesday.

In the first webinar, Tim Ammon and Tom Platt, co-owners of the Decision Support Group, will discuss the important distinction between the information pupil transporters absolutely need to know and what they would like to know before returning to school. Ammon and Platt, who were co-managers of the STARTS Task Force with Jim Regan of Capital Works Consulting, will also draw upon their experience working with the task force’s Communications Committee to explain how to develop a plan to effectively communicate to people what you are doing, according to the email announcement from NASDPTS.

The other webinars, which will be co-hosted by the leaders of the associations that comprise STARTS —the National Association for Pupil Transportation’s (NAPT’s) Executive Director Mike Martin, NASDPTS Executive Director Charlie Hood, and the National School Transportation Association’s (NSTA’s) Executive Director Curt Macysyn — will cover issues such as:

•    The similarities and differences among successful and not so successful school reopening plans.

•    How COVID-19 liability affects state constitutional and other legal requirements for school transportation.

•    Why parents and lawyers say distance learning failed too many special education students last school year and what to do about it.

•    The best way to utilize the American School Bus Council’s new school transportation promotional/marketing products to support your operation’s return to school.

The additional webinars will be held at 12:00 p.m. Eastern Time on Aug. 18, Aug. 25, Sept. 1, and Sept. 8.

Register for the first webinar of the series.

Registration information for the remaining webinars will be forthcoming.  

For more information on STARTS, go to www.STARTSTaskForce.com or email info@startstaskforce.com.