In Loving Memory
How to help keep kids safe
Background Photo By James Kraemer | In Loving Memory Archives
A safe and appropriate environment for children and adults on the school bus is no accident. It takes the help of informed and effective bus drivers, school staff, parents, and students following the lead of adults helping to maintain a safe, calm and harassment free school bus.
Parents: Statistics say the school bus is one of the safest forms of transportation. Regardless, when the employer or school bus driver (or both) ignore their responsibility to help keep kids safe, then the school bus can become one of the most dangerous forms of transportation."Of the many thousands of school bus crashes occurring each year, more than half where the bus driver was found at fault are attributed to bus driver distraction due to student misbehavior on the bus." --Silent Witness
Care about your kids more than other people's kids and care a little bit about all kids.
Know your children, who they "hang" with and what they are doing. A child's behavior - not rights - determines the level of supervision and privacy.
Know your bus driver and your school; and instruct your kids to follow the bus driver's directions and practice the skill of courtesy. Avoid blaming other kids, the driver, the school or yourself for each child's part in any misbehavior.
Make sure your bus driver is receiving effective child management training. Some employers are cutting costs by cutting training in this important area. Observe your bus. Can you hear kids screaming when the bus door is opened? Are they in the aisle, swearing, hitting, running across the road? If this is the case, on or around the school bus your child rides, do your part to help get it corrected. You may actually save a life. (FEEL FREE TO MENTION THIS WEB SITE TO SCHOOL STAFF AND OTHER PARENTS.)
Make sure at least one parent - or other agreed adult the kids know is in charge - is at the bus stop when children are going to school and when returning from school. This helps insure appropriate conduct at the bus stop, gives a child departed at the wrong stop someone to turn to for help and reduces the risk of child abuductions.
Set aside one hour or more per week, and at the same time and day during the week, to volunteer at your school. Let your school know, in writing, about this special time you've set aside to help out at school, on the school bus or at the bus stop. Avoid giving advice (unless asked) for about one school year. Then, when asked, say what you think and not what you think school authorities want to hear. (FEEL FREE TO TEST YOUR IDEAS, OR VENT YOUR THOUGHTS, AT 2SAFESCHOOLS VARIOUS FORUMS, SURVEYS OR EMAIL A COMMENT TO 2SAFESCHOOLS).
You must be at your best when dealing with your child's misbehavior. You're the last and best line of defense in your home. You must not fail.
School Staff: Virtually all violence at school and on the school buses has more to do with the adults involved than with the kids.Treat kids like they have no brains, fail to train them and fail to follow through on your expectations - expect to have a crowd of brainless acting kids to contend with.
"It is likely a young girl's first encounter with sexual harassment will occur on a school bus." -- CARLYLE BEEZLY, HEAD OF THE TENNESSEE SCHOOL BUS SYSTEM
Care about the kids at your school more than the kids at other schools and care a little bit about all kids.
Know your students, your students parents and your bus drivers; and instruct your students to follow the bus driver's directions and practice the skill of courtesy. Communicate school bus expectations to parents in school news letters and to the local press. Avoid blaming the bus driver, parents, other kids, society or yourself for each child's part in any misbehavior.
Find the "common sense" rational to deal effectively with the "so-called" small stuff. Chewing gum, littering, running down the bus aisle or running to or from the bus are all serious offenses, when acknowledged that the child is refusing to follow the bus driver's directions.
Practice getting to know your students by keeping kids occupied and observing how they deal with small issues. You may actually observe something that helps you help that child maintain a necessary emotional distance from the use of violence to solve problems. You may actually save a life.
Never get caught unprepaired to make use of a parent volunteer. Establish a volunteer communications center with a wide variety of volunteer support activities, scheduled for each hour of the school day, evenings and Saturdays where applicable. Remember that the bus and bus stops are a part of your school's volunteer activities.
You must be at your best when dealing with student misbehavior at school. You're the last and best line of defense in your school. You must not fail.
Bus Drivers: You're the last and best line of defense in helping to insure a safe school bus."Three times as many pupils are killed outside the bus at bus stops as are on the inside, by crashes. Half the deaths at school bus stops involve the child run over by his or her own bus." -- CNN FACTS
Before ignoring your responsibility to perform a full pretrip of your bus or before following an unlawful or unsafe direction, consider the loss of these loved ones. Before leaving that school with some out-of-control kids on board, please remember the loss of these loved ones. Before ignoring children running across the road or doing anything they're not supposed to be doing, please remember the loss of these loved ones. Before driving a bus, when too ill, tired or too upset, please remember the loss of these loved ones. Your diligence may actually save a life.
Care about the kids on your bus more than the kids on the other buses and care a little bit about all kids.
Train, TRAIN, TRAIN!: Participate in various violence prevention training. If your employer doesn't offer effective violence prevention training, find effective outside training. If you don't know where to start, then start looking for effective outside violence prevention classes through your local collages and visit the 2safeschools TRAINING section, listed in the side panel on the Front Page.
Know the kids riding your bus and instruct your bus riders: "Students riding this bus are expected to follow the bus driver's directions and practice the skill of courtesy." Avoid blaming parents, other kids, the school, society or yourself for each child's part in any misbehavior.
Partisipate in school activities when possible and keep yourself available to kids, parents and school staff.
You must be at your best when behind the wheel of that school bus. You're the last and best line of defense on your school bus. You must not fail.
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