Four student transporters recently completed NAPT’s Special Needs Training (STN) Program, bringing the grant total of recipients so far to 50.
Three of the four new recipients hail from Colorado and follow in the footsteps of five past endorsed recipients from the same state. In all, NAPT said there are 14 Colorado student transporters who have completed the certification.
The three from Colorado are Nancy Storti, trainer with Douglas County Schools in Parker, Lisa Vasquez with Denver Public Schools and Patricia Dorado, a school bus driver with Adams County School District 14 in Commerce City. The fourth recipient is Anita Swindle, transportation supervisor with Shelby County Schools in Arlington, Tenn., the same school district that employed Joyce Gregory, the bus driver who was shot and killed by a student eight years ago in March.
The NAPT Special Needs Transportation Training Program provides numerous opportunities for transportation personnel serving students with disabilities to access educational opportunities at both local and national conferences and to gain national recognition for their efforts. A complete list of the program elements is available at naptonline.org.
The program has a core curriculum that consists of six special needs courses in a variety of different settings, including a school bus roadeo and a trade show of school transportation products and services. The core curriculum is supplemented by two courses of elective instruction from the NAPT Professional Development Series (PDS) Program. The syllabus for the core curriculum has been specifically designed to increase an individual’s specific knowledge about transporting students with disabilities.
All six of the required NAPT SNT Program special needs courses will be offered in March at the TSD Conference in Frisco, Texas. They are: “Basics of Special Needs” (SNT 101), “NHTSA Child Passenger Safety on School Buses” training (SNT 102), National Special Needs Team Roadeo (SNT 103), TSD Trade Show (SNT 104), “Autism Behavior and Inventions That Work” (SNT 105), and either “Punished, Protected, or Prisoner: Restraint Considerations in Law, Operations and Practice” or “Can We Do This: Parsing Grey Areas in Special Needs Transportation” (SNT 106).
More information on the TSD Conference agenda is online.
