The Transporting Students with Disabilities and Preschoolers National Conference features three dozen workshop. They range from ensuring efficiency and compliance in route service, to collaboration between school districts and Head Start agencies, IEP team decision-making to avoiding litigation.
The full and detailed TSD Conference agenda is now online and is available for download. The event runs from March 17-22 in Frisco, Texas, a suburb of Dallas.
TSD also features four general sessions. Author Craig Davidson provides the first keynote address on Monday, March 19. He will share stories from his novel “Precious Cargo,” which highlights the life-changing year he served as a special needs school bus driver. The next day, legal expert Julie Weatherly will discuss important legal developments in transportation of students with disabilities.
Other general session panels will cover the topics of: How student transporters can form community partnerships with law enforcement to ensure safe transportation of students with autism; a look at the status quo in student transportation and how it can be changed for the better; and fostering positive Interactions with autistic students throughout the community.
Attendees can obtain National Highway Traffic Safety Administration certification in proper securement of students with disabilities and preschoolers; hands-on training in proper wheelchair securement on school buses from restraint and tie-down manufactures; and hands-on training to evacuate the school bus.
The annual TSD Conference school bus roadeo for teams of drivers and attendants is held Saturday, March 18 at Frisco ISD. The event includes a written exam and a road course that includes about a dozen stations that tests participants behind-the-wheel skills as well as student behavior management, securement, evacuation and more.
