The Allen County School District has several educational activities planned as part of National School Bus Safety Week slated for Monday, October 20 through Friday, October 24. In addition, the district’s bus drivers and transportation support staff will be honored on Bus Driver Appreciation Day, Wednesday October 22.
“This is a week that brings awareness to school buses and safety,” explained Wendell Spears, transportation director for the Allen County School District. “The national theme this year is‘‘At my stop, you stop.” We will be reminding students about school bus safety, things like standing back from the road at the bus stop, watching for a bus driver’s signal to cross and looking both ways when crossing in front of the bus. Repetition brings forth retention so anything we can say or do, we’ll do to emphasis safety Students will also review safety rules during the week.”
Spears notes that the time will also be a good time for parents to remind their children to be attentive to their surroundings when getting on and off the bus as well as following all rules while riding the bus.
“We encourage parents to remind kids to be very careful at the bus stop,” Spears said. “We also encourage parents to talk to their kids about making sure they observe all safety and conduct rules which have been established for the safe and efficient operation of the school bus. Bus rules are posted on each bus for everyone to see. Failure to follow the rules leads to distractions and the fewer the distractions, the safer the bus ride.”
The week is also a time for motorists to remember to be very attentive to school buses and children as the buses load and unload. In Allen County, school buses are on the road between 5:30 and 7:30 a.m. and 3 and 5 p.m. transporting between 1,500 and 2,000 students each school day.
“The most dangerous time for students is while they are loading and unloading the bus,” Spears added. “Everyone in the community can help by watching for buses that are loading or unloading. When you see amber lights flashing, the bus is preparing to stop. When you see red lights flashing and the stop arm out, the bus is loading or unloading. Never pass a bus even in a parking lot.”
This year, the week will include an off-campus evacuation bus drill---a drill that the district practices every few years to educate students and faculty about what would happen if an emergency required a quick evacuation of students.
“We will park a number of buses at each school at some point during the week,” Spears explained. “Every teacher will then take their class and load a bus, just like we would do if we needed to evacuate and leave campus. This will be a simulation only. We will not actually leave campus but we will practice getting the students out of the classrooms and on to the bus.”
The off-campus evacuation drill is designed to prepare students and staff as to the procedure if the need ever arose for students to evacuate to an off-campus location. Possible scenarios for such an evacuation include an accident on a nearby roadway involving chemicals or a major gas leak in a surrounding area. In such a case, Spears would summons approximately 20 certified bus drivers from in-school personnel, dispatch them to the on-campus bus lot to pick up a bus, and then dispatch the buses to the school to start the evacuation to pre-determined external locations.
“Hopefully we will never have to use our plans for an off-campus bus evacuation,” Spears said. “But we will practice the part where we bring 20 buses to each school and we load the buses,” Spears said. “Once again, we will not be leaving campus, just practicing loading the buses.”
However, the drill will also have a second part---an evacuation from the school bus itself. After the buses are loaded next week, the students will then practice exiting the bus---a drill that is done routinely throughout the school year for students who ride buses to school. However, this drill next week will give all students bus evacuation practice---including students that may only ride a bus for academic or extra-curricular activities.
Going hand-in-hand with school bus safety week is a time to show appreciation for the bus drivers---drivers who transport Allen County school children between 450,000 and 500,000 miles each year.
“Our drivers are a very dedicated group of men and women,” Spears said. “It takes a special person to be a school bus driver. Generally, each school does something during the week for the drivers. Also, parents often give their child’s driver a card, gift certificate, home-baked cookies or a small token of appreciation. That always makes the bus driver feel good.”
Bus drivers cover 40 routes each school day with the average bus route being 56 miles round trip morning and afternoon. In addition, Allen County buses travel between 50,000 and 75,000 miles transporting students to academic and extra-curricular activities.