Handle With Care

January 14, 2025

A common thread throughout the 33 years of the National Conference on Transporting Students with Disabilities and Special Needs, better known as TSD, has been collaboration and communication. Student transporters must be vocal early and often with special education community peers to ensure their perspectives are considered when developing individualized education programs for students.

The impact on transportation as a service, as mandated by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, and the individual transportation plans that result from IEPs is profound. TSD is the place where not only student transporters gather to learn and problem-solve. So do special educators, physical and occupational therapists, nurses, and speech pathologists. All these professionals play a supporting role satisfying the right of students with disabilities satisfy to receive a free and appropriate public education and in the least restrictive environment.

This is what makes transporting students who are medically fragile so complex, and it’s vital student transporters get things right. In November, a panel consisting of a transportation director, school nurse and physical therapist that was moderated by consultant and TSD tenured faculty member Sue Shutrump discussed the critical importance of collaboration and communication between all stakeholders involved in transporting students with these complex needs.

Panelist Laura Beth Blankenship, a pediatric physical therapist with Knox County Schools in Tennessee, noted the increasing number of students riders with ventilators, tracheostomy tubes and severe positioning needs. Further complicating matters, she said some students lack personal adaptive equipment, affecting how a student is positioned and secured on the school bus.

As a result, more and more is asked of school bus drivers and monitors, observed fellow panelist Kenny Mulder, the director of transportation for the Special School District of St. Louis County, Missouri. Angela McDonald, the school nurse consultant for the Kentucky Department of Education, added that mainstreaming students with these various health conditions on general education routes necessitates comprehensive training for all transportation staff, especially when administration of medication is involved.

For all these reasons and more, student transportation needs to be better integrated into the IEP process from the beginning, rather than being left out of the loop.

To do so, the panel suggested:

• Develop a transportation team that include representatives from nursing, special education, physical/occupational therapy, and other relevant departments. This team can create guidance for IEP teams on key transportation-related questions to address.

• Advocate for transportation staff to attend IEP meetings, when possible, especially for students with significant medical, behavioral or mobility needs. This ensures their input is heard and transportation-specific accommodations are included.

• Provide training for all school bus drivers, not just those on specialized routes, on common medical conditions, emergency procedures, and safely assisting students with complex needs. Leverage school nurses, therapists and other experts to provide this training.

• Work with state and local lawmakers to ensure transportation is treated as a related service under IDEA, with clear requirements for training, staffing and equipment. Use regulations to push for the resources needed to transport students safely.

• Foster open communication and relationships with parents. Parents can be powerful allies in ensuring their child’s transportation needs are met, and they may be willing to share critical medical information that the school district lacks.

The goal, the panel shared, is for school districts to develop comprehensive training programs for all school bus drivers and aides so they are equipped with information they need when transporting students who are medically fragile. Could a system, perhaps within routing software, flag student medical conditions and intervention plans? Could a centralized directory of student medical conditions and emergency plans be created and distributed to transportation staff? Do transporters have access to student emergency medications on the bus? How are student transportation requests received, and do they include the necessary medical plans and information? Important questions all of them. What more could you ask in your operations and of your school district?

Editor’s Note: As reprinted in the January 2025 issue of School Transportation News.