Florida district’s transportation manager resigns

John Franklin steps down after seven years as general manager of transportation of Hillsborough County Public Schools. Officials say he led the transportation department through “an eventful time of change and challenges,” and they say that Chief Facilities Officer Chris Farkas will directly oversee the transportation department until Franklin’s replacement is hired.

PHOTOS: Boosting Training with Bus Crash Drill

Companies partner to develop batteries for Lion all-electric bus

EnerDel Inc. will build the main battery components in Indiana, and B3CG Interconnect Inc. will complete the final battery and wiring harness assembly in Quebec.

NAPT names new marketing and communications specialist

Megan Geroux has more than 10 years of experience as a communications professional in the association world — most recently as the communications director for an association management company in Albany, N.Y. NAPT officials say Geroux specializes in creative communications and uses her “keen listening skills to uncover and share associations' unique stories.”

NSTA launches redesigned website

New features of the contractor association’s website include detailed information for school administrators to use when considering contracting, and a centralized place to find school transportation services when looking for contractors interested in providing school transportation in a specific state or Canadian province.

Oklahoma district supports Child Abuse Awareness Month

The transportation department at Woodward Public Schools observes the cause in April by decorating its buses with blue ribbons, an international symbol for child abuse prevention. Transportation Director Rosetta Loomis tells a local newspaper that, “It is a wonderful teaching and learning opportunity.”

District revamps emergency procedures for special-needs students

Among the changes at Florida’s Hillsborough County Public Schools transportation department is the requirement for bus drivers to call 911 first when there’s a medical emergency, and bus drivers also receive more training in handling students with disabilities as well as undergo a new debriefing process when a medically fragile student has an issue. The changes are in response to the deaths of two special-needs students in 2012.

Driver, nurse save 4 special-needs students from bus fire

Alfred “Al” Lewis pulls the bus over, opens the passenger door and window to let the smoke out, sprays the fire extinguisher into the vents, and gathers the students in wheelchairs and carries them outside to safety. Meanwhile, the nurse helps the other two students out of the rear door.

Don't take a back seat in the IEP process

Transportation personnel should play a key role in transportation decisions for children with disabilities, long before a child has been assigned to a school bus route. But realize: All children with disabilities eligible for transportation services do not require the same level of specialized intervention.

Students not seriously injured when bus overturns

The three children on a Copperas Cove (Texas) Independent School District bus are restrained in their wheelchairs when the bus is broadsided by a car. They are left hanging upside down and have to be cut free of their restraints, but they, along with the bus driver and attendant, only sustain minor injuries.