National School Bus Inspection Training Expands to Two Days at STN EXPO

January 26, 2023

School bus inspections are one of the transportation related items Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb provided flexibility to in his Executive Order 20-20 relating to the COVID-19 closures. Image courtesy of Stertil Koni.

STN EXPO Indianapolis attendees who register for the National School Bus Inspection seminar will see their learning opportunities double with a second day planned of hands-on diagnoses of defects.

Brownsburg Community School Corporation, located about 20 miles northwest of the Indiana Convention Center, agreed to host the Day 2 event on June 3 at its new 45,780 square-foot facility that was completed in 2021. The training will include four school buses, three of which the registrants will be tasked with inspecting, following all-day classroom learning and a written exam on June 2 at the Indiana Convention Center.

The fourth bus is planned to be an electric school bus that attendees can familiarize themselves with.

Transportation will be provided to and from the hands-on training by Miller Transportation. Lunch will be served on June 3 at the Brownsburg facility, which Nick Meyerrose, the district’s coordinator of transportation, said also features 10 drive-through vehicle bays, covered canopy parking for all school buses, and an inside training room with a fully functional special needs bus and a partial Type D transit-style bus on its side to simulate a rollover. The meeting space can accommodate up to 300 people.

Meyerrose added that Brownsburg transports 7,300 students each day via 112 school buses.

Meanwhile, a similar two-day training is also being developed for STN EXPO Reno on July 14 and 15. Details will be announced soon.

The STN EXPO training was developed by Marshall Casey, who retired from the South Carolina Department of Education as director of fleet maintenance in 2012 but remained active in the industry as a consultant. He headed the America’s Best School Bus Inspector and Technician Training and Skills Competition through 2018.

The intent of the training provided at STN EXPO is to help school districts develop inspection and maintenance programs that surpass the requirements of state and federal department of transportation regulations, with the goal of avoiding costly and unsafe bus breakdowns on routes.