FRISCO, Texas – In a proactive move to address growing concerns over incidents of abuse and neglect on school buses, transportation leaders from across the nation gathered for a training seminar focused on building effective programs for school bus attendants and monitors.
The TSD Conference “Best Practices for the Training of School Bus Monitors & Aides” seminar on Friday, led by Launi Schmutz-Harden and Randall Crawford, brought together a room full of transportation professionals eager to learn, problem-solve and share best practices.
“Safety has to be the top priority, and that starts with ensuring our bus attendants have the right training, tools and support to handle any situation that may arise,” said Schmutz-Harden, a TSD Tenured Faculty member who retired after 30 years as a school transportation director in Utah. “We can’t afford to underestimate the abilities of these students or the importance of having qualified, well-trained staff on our buses.”
The training covered a range of critical topics, from understanding the unique needs of students with disabilities to mastering de-escalation techniques and emergency preparedness. Attendees also discussed the challenges of hiring qualified candidates and the importance of ongoing collaboration with human resources, special education departments and other key stakeholders.
“It’s not enough to just provide the bare minimum training,” said Crawford, director of transportation for Clay County Schools in Jacksonville, Florida. “We have to be proactive in equipping our bus attendants with the knowledge and skills to handle the real-world situations they’ll face on a daily basis.”
One key takeaway from the three-hour seminar was the need for hands-on, scenario-based training that allows attendants to practice skills like properly securing students in wheelchairs or responding to behavioral outbursts. Attendees also emphasized the value of learning from past failures and using those experiences to continuously improve their training programs.
Schmutz-Harden and Crawford provided attendees with several real-life scenarios to discuss and problem-solve.
“There’s no one-size-fits-all solution, but by sharing our challenges and successes, we can all learn from each other and raise the bar for student transportation safety,” said Harden.
As school districts across the country grapple with staffing shortages and budgetary constraints, the TSD Monitor Training Seminar underscored the critical importance of investing in comprehensive training programs for school bus attendants. With the safety and well-being of students at stake, transportation leaders are committed to making this a top priority.
Schmutz-Harden and Crawford discussed with attendees the challenges of hiring qualified attendants, including physical fitness requirements and communication skills. The discussion covered the importance of comprehensive training covering student behavior management, emergency preparedness, understanding disabilities, the need for collaboration with HR, special education departments, and other stakeholders to develop robust training programs and identifying any gaps or needs, sharing of real-world examples and failures to learn from and improve training, emphasis on ongoing communication, monitoring, and continuous improvement of training efforts.
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The session also discussed the legal and compliance requirements for training monitors, including CPR and first aid certification. The attendees shared their experiences with training requirements and the challenges of finding time to conduct training.
Harden-Schmutz and Crawford emphasized the importance of meeting legal requirements and the potential financial implications of not doing so. The group discussed the need for better training on legal requirements and the importance of ongoing training and support for monitors. This, they concluded, should include a process of conducting ride checks, either in person or using video monitoring to ensure protocols are being followed.
“Checks and balances –if you don’t have that, put it in place because you can find those actionable items that are there,” Crawford added.
The main action items for attendees at the conclusion of the seminar were to evaluate their current practices, advocate for increased training resources, and explore partnerships to enhance their bus attendant training programs.
