More than a dozen national organizations involved in child advocacy are supporting an initiative to ensure students are prepared to learn in school and to one day become contributing adults in their communities. It doesn’t take much in this industry to think how school buses could be a part of this effort.
In about a month, NHTSA is scheduled to begin its national public awareness campaign touting the educational, economic, environmental and safety benefits of yellow buses, developed in conjunction with the American School Bus Council. Meanwhile, the National Movement for America’s Children is promoting nurturing environments for children to support health brain development.
Jim Hmurovich, president and CEO of Prevent Child Abuse America, one of the founding organizations, said that research shows that, when proper child development does not occur, there is a greater potential for children to experience lifelong consequences including health and mental health issues, substance abuse, delinquent and criminal behavior and academic under-achievement.
Another spokesperson posed the “big” question to me: “How can we ensure that every child as an equal opportunity for healthy growth and development?”
Actually, that sounds more like the $64 million question, as most school districts and local municipalities seemingly could use about that much money right now to close budget deficits and keep not only vital classroom programs alive, and teachers employed, but also support services like student transportation.
This program certainly sounds benevolent, and it could be worth the the collective school bus industry to at least learn more about it. Those same kids need an actual ride to and from school, after all, where the most stable environments exist for tens of thousands of children nationwide.
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It still remains to be seen if the federal walking and biking program for school children who live within two miles of school will survive past this year, but the 3rd Safe Routes to School National Conference is moving ahead, Aug. 16 through 18 in Minneapolis, and registration closes soon.
Conference organizers said today that online registration ends on Aug. 5. Even as the House Transportation Committee has announced that the program might be cut from the pending surface transportation reauthorization bill, the conference will include the man known as the “father” of Safe Routes to School, James Oberstar, former congressman from Minnesota and the former chair of the committee before losing a re-election bid in 2010.
Others will be on hand from state and local jurisdictions to talk about their own experiences.
While Safe Routes to School struggles to live on in the House, a separate bill that would continue to fund the program remains alive in the Senate. In that version, a provision exists that would allow 10 percent of infrastructure funding to be used to build or improve walking routes to and from school bus stops, especially those in rural or dangerous areas.
At the STN EXPO, a representative of the Safe Routes to School National Partnership is scheduled to sit on a panel with student transportation professionals to discuss how the programs could work in unison with each other.
