Transportation
Challenges:
Important Things To Review With
Your Operators
Ronnie H. McCallister-Assistant Director
March 27, 2012
Jamie Warrington-Program Specialist
Kay Kanupp-Program Specialist
Department of Education-School Transportation
License Renewal
New steps when renewing or updating licenses at Division of Motor Vehicles: School
bus operators should choose A and Garage Technicians should choose B.
A. Non-excepted Interstate - I operate or expect to operate in interstate
commerce and am required to maintain federal medical certification. (Medical
Card Required)
B. Excepted Interstate - I operate or expect to operate in interstate commerce,
but engage exclusively in operations that qualify me for exception from the
requirement to maintain federal medical certification.
C. Non-excepted Intrastate - I operate or expect to operate only in intrastate commerce and
am required to meet state of Florida medical certification requirements. (Medical Card
Required)
D. Excepted Intrastate - I operate or expect to operate only in intrastate commerce, but
engage exclusively in operations that qualify me for exception from state of Florida
medical certification requirements.
Note: These categories are on FDHSMV’s website at
http://flhsmv.gov/ddl/cdlmedicalcert.html.)
Proper Mirror Adjustment
Mirror Grids For Use
Proper Use of Operator and Transported
Students Seatbelts =Responsibility
316.6145 School buses; safety belts or other restraint
systems required.— (1)(a) Each school bus that is
purchased new after December 31, 2000, and used to
transport students in grades pre-K through 12 must be
equipped with safety belts or with any other restraint
system approved by the Federal Government in a number
sufficient to allow each student who is being transported
to use a separate safety belt or restraint system.
Operators are required to wear their seatbelt in
accordance with manufacturer instructions. (Not tucked
behind the shoulder or not in use at all)
1006.25, F.S.; Rule 6A-3.0291, FAC;
Unauthorized Persons Boarding The
Bus

What are the potential dangers of unauthorized people
boarding the bus
They are not supposed to be on the bus

Does your district have a policy against parents
boarding buses
They have NO reason to board that bus! Carry the bus office number-Have it handy

Can they be arrested
They absolutely can! Trespassing

Make sure your school district has a district policy.
Trespassing (on school buses and property) Sections
810.095, 810.097, and 810.08, F.S.
Major Crashes


Review district policy and responsibility concerning
crashes
What is the procedure for a fatality-Call DOE and give
information needed: All information concerning operator
involved (training, certification, updated physical, drug
tested, etc) and also the school bus (last inspected year,
make, etc) and students on board (location of crash, how
many on board, any injuries). A fatality needs to be
reported immediately with as much information as
possible.

All crashes being reported in the accident database are
required a total of at least $1000 in damages.
(doesn’t matter what the $1000 dollars damage consists of)
Adhere to Route Times
(Just Do The Right Thing)
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Being on Scheduled Route Time
Try to keep assigned operators on regular routes.
One of the safest opportunities a school district has is
limiting substitute operators to routes that they are
familiar with
An operator should never allow a student to disembark
the bus unless he/she knows the area and the route to
get home. Instruct all operators to either return
students to school or keep them on the bus with them
and contact dispatch for assistance.
Good Customer Service
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Ensure that operators know what good customer
service is and their responsibility towards it
Have a system of rewarding operators that give
good customer service
Always encourage operators to have a positive
outlook where Transportation is concerned
If they are rude to you or other operators---they
are going to be rude to the public
If they are exhibiting professional behavior (the
public) will see this and react accordingly
Additional Training for Tenured
Operators
Statistics show that school bus operators that have
been driving between five and ten years have an
increased potential for crashes
Is it time to require these individuals go through
additional training classes or remedial training
What will it take to wake them up and be more
responsible for their actions
What does your district’s safe driver plan say about
this-is it enough
Responsibility For Discipline
Do your operators know the responsibilities of
maintaining a “safe bus ride for every student”
Some of the videos that appear on You-tube tend to
be more believable especially with the public
looking on
Are they trained to manage every imaginable event
that could happen on the bus
Does your school district spend enough time on
discipline to make a difference
Are your written referrals receiving enough attention
from the school administrators
Pre-trips and The Garage
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Train your operators to know what to look for when
it comes to “out of service” items on the bus (Make
sure they are performing the daily pre-trip)
Identify what an “out of service” item is and what
would be considered “ok to travel”
Make sure the Garage Personnel checks the
defective item with you. Ensure garage personnel
clears the bus for operation and verifies the bus is
safe to drive
We Through Now
Questions!!!!