The relationship between student transportation and special education was likened to a marriage of sorts during a session at the 21st annual National Conference and Exhibition on Transporting Students with Special Needs & Preschoolers (TSD).
The session, titled “Couples Therapy: Resolving Issues in Special Needs Transportation,” was just one of many sessions offered at the conference, held March 10-14 in Orlando, Fla. Presenters emphasized the need for open communication and understanding each other’s roles when school transportation officials meet with administrators, therapists and parents of students with special needs.
Moderator Peggy A. Burns, Esq., owner of Education Compliance Group, said when all team members collaborate and share information, they become united in a common mission. She asked attendees to consider what true collaboration looks like before initiating a mock Individualized Education Plan (IEP) meeting.
The mock meeting included Nancy Kessler, special needs coordinator for Katy (Texas) Independent School District, who played the parent, Cook-Illinois COO John Benish as the contractor and NAPT President Alexandra Robinson as the director of transportation.
Robinson, who is executive director of the New York City Department of Education’s Office of Pupil Transportation, said special education and transportation have to get on the same page before they sit down with parents. Meanwhile, Greg Aikin, transportation director at the Volusia County (Fla.) School District who was a part of another mock meeting during the same presentation, agreed. He recommended that both parties gather as much information as possible before the IEP meeting and try to understand each other’s jobs.
Robinson said the best way to foster understanding is to actually spend time in other departments. For example, make dispatch a “principal for a day,” bring the contractor in to work with routers and invite special-education staff to meetings in the transportation department.
Burns emphasized that transportation officials must come across as knowledgeable and competent during IEP meetings to gain parents’ confidence.
Barbara Bush, director of exceptional student education and student services at Volusia County School district, noted during the mock meetings that she appreciates it when transportation directors such as Aikin are knowledgeable about special education and familiar with data on child restraints and curbside busing, for example.
“That knowledge he has had in our field has made us want him at our table, and makes us want to be at his table,” Bush said.
Sue Shutrump, supervisor of OT/PT services for Trumbull County (Ohio) Educational Services Center, said it is important to customize services and identify the necessary equipment for a student with special needs to ride the school bus. She echoed that it is vital to bring special education staff into the conversation early on to avoid a communication breakdown between parents and school officials.
As everyone knows, communication is a must for a good marriage.
