Bus Security

Every day in this country, school buses transport millions of students to and from school, athletic events and field trips. A violent incident transpiring on a school bus is a crisis scenario often overlooked by the majority of school districts. For too many schools, there’s the belief that an effective bus security plan just cannot be developed. The truth is simple — your school district must be proactive in your bus safety efforts by planning and practicing for the various emergencies that may occur on one of your school buses.

Y N Bus Crisis Planning Develop bus crisis plans with school administration, your police and sheriffs departments, and local emergency medical responders. Your plan should address crises such as fires, weather emergencies, serious vehicle accidents, school evacuations, and hostage situations as well as terrorist activities.

Your bus drivers, school administration, law enforcement, and emergency responders must train together. Everyone needs to know their role and how others will respond during a bus crisis. Ask your local law enforcement, SWAT teams, and emergency responders to periodically conduct emergency training exercises on your buses.

Develop alternative bus evacuation routes from each of your schools, events, and facilities. Alternative evacuation routes may be used if roads are closed, blocked, damaged, or if there is a substantial amount of traffic congestion.

Y N Bus Crisis Planning (continued) Make sure your district’s transportation manager, supervisors, and bus drivers are trained as to their role in your school district’s crisis prevention program.

Be prepared to quickly mobilize your bus services for any incident when drivers are not normally scheduled. This may include a mid‐day school evacuation or a bus accident occurring late at night.

Mutual aid agreements should be developed with nearby school districts if additional buses are needed for mass or rapid mobilization of your students and staff.

Practice for a variety of ‘what if’ bus emergency scenarios. There are a multitude of emergencies that your bus drivers should be trained to recognize and address.

Hold periodic meetings with school administration and your bus drivers to discuss problem students, discipline concerns, and other related issues.

Additional Comments:

Y N Driver/Bus Security Controls Maintain accurate and up‐to‐date passenger lists and route sheets for all your school buses. These lists should be maintained for all bus trips that take place before, during, and after school.

Always forbid any unauthorized persons or strangers from entering or riding on your bus. If someone attempts to enter one of your buses, the driver must call the police (911) and your school administration immediately.

Require all your bus drivers to possess photo identification cards. Parents may request identification from their child’s bus driver, especially if a new or substitute driver is used.

Make certain background checks have been conducted on all your bus drivers and bus company employees.

Develop a system for your bus drivers to report suspicious incidents or persons at the bus facility or on their route.

Present basic self‐defense and security training for all your bus drivers.

Y N Driver/Bus Security Controls (continued) Develop crisis codes that your bus drivers can use to alert dispatch that they may have a problem or need immediate assistance.

Ask your bus drivers to inspect their bus for foreign objects, both inside and outside, any time it has been left unattended. This could be during an athletic event at another school district, a trip to a museum, etc.

Ensure that each of your school’s bus pick‐up and drop‐off areas do not have other vehicular traffic present. Complex traffic patterns, where two different types of transportation (bus/car, bus/child, car/child) cross each other’s travel path, are the ‘hot spots’ where a serious accident could occur. The chance of a child darting out from behind a stopped bus into the path of another vehicle is very real. The best control is to designate your bus pick‐up and drop‐off areas for bus traffic and nothing else.

Assess each of your school bus routes to identify any potential trouble spots. This may include bad neighborhoods, excessive shrubbery at drop off/pick up areas, poorly lit areas, dead end roads, etc.

If a bus incident or accident occurs, have one specific person designated to communicate pertinent information to your other schools, parents, law enforcement, and the media.

Y N Driver/Bus Security Controls (continued) Strictly control access to all bus keys.

Ensure that all of your buses are equipped with two‐way communication.

Ask your bus drivers to maintain ‘911’ on their cell phone speed dial.

Install a “trouble indicator” light on each school bus that drivers can activate to alert others of possible troubles on the bus.

Instruct your bus drivers to never leave their bus running when it is unattended. Tell them to turn off the engine and take the keys with them.

Train your school bus drivers how to address on‐bus conflicts such as a fight between students that occurs on the bus. Bus drivers should also be trained on what to do when confronting angry parents, strangers, trespassers, and other threats of violence.

Additional Comments:

Y N Bus Facilities Occasionally perform a security risk assessment of your facilities, including bus storage yards, garages, etc. Your insurance company’s loss control department may be of great assistance in this area.

Restrict the access to your bus parking areas to buses only. Don’t allow others to park near or walk among the school buses if at all possible.

When possible, park your school buses in a fenced in, illuminated parking area.

Whenever possible, allow access to your school bus parking area through one gate only.

Ask your police and sheriff’s department to routinely patrol your bus parking areas.

Advise school employees to report any suspicious people at the bus facility or on route.

Keep up‐to‐date student rosters, emergency contact numbers, and a first aid kit on each bus.

Place identifying numbers on the top of your school buses which could be seen from above during an emergency.

Additional Comments:

Preventing Stranded Students

In northern climates, leaving a child on a school bus can be a life‐threatening situation, especially when temperatures drop during the winter months. A variety of electronic devices and signs are available to ensure the bus driver walks to the back of the bus after each route; however, the bus driver is still the most important control in preventing stranded students on your school buses.

Y N Preventing Stranded Students At the conclusion of each bus trip, walking through the entire bus must become part of the regular routine of the bus driver.

Develop a zero tolerance policy for drivers who leave a child stranded on a school bus.

Bus drivers should not be given a second chance if a stranded student incident takes place. After one incident where the bus driver fails to check their bus and a student needs to be recovered, the driver should be terminated. New bus driver training is the time to discuss your driver’s post‐trip inspection. Educate drivers that termination will follow if a student is stranded and that there is no room for discussion if this occurs.

Y N Preventing Stranded Students (continued) Require bus drivers to place an “Empty Bus” placard in the back of the bus each and every time the bus is used. This will help to reinforce the fact that the bus driver must walk to the back of the bus at the conclusion of each trip. The “Empty Bus” placard system is an easy way for your transportation manager to walk or drive your bus parking area to determine which buses have been walked through by observing the placards. Keep in mind this system is not fool‐proof; a bus driver could place the placard in the back of the bus and never visually check the bus.

If the “Empty Bus” placard system is used, a bus that is missing the placard should be inspected immediately. The bus driver should also receive a stern warning about their actions.

During bus evacuation drills, educate students about how to use the bus horn to get someone’s attention in case they are ever accidentally locked in on a school bus.

Your bus transportation manager should frequently conduct spot checks of drivers when they complete their route to ensure drivers are looking for stranded students on their bus.

During monthly bus safety meetings with drivers, always review the procedures for conducting their post trip inspection as well as all other emergency protocols.

Additional Comments:

Unfortunately no checking system is completely foolproof. If a student is scared or falls asleep, they may easily end up under the bus seat. Unless your bus drivers are always attentive, a child may be missed with potentially serious consequences.

Y N Bus Drop‐Off Area Concerns The best control is to design your school’s bus pick up and drop off areas to permit only one way traffic by the school bus.

Always attempt to segregate parents’ vehicle access from bus traffic.

If your bus pick up or drop off area cannot be segregated from the parent/student pick up and drop off areas, the entrances and exits of these areas should be closed off to all pedestrian and vehicle traffic.

Consider posting supervisors at the bus entrances to ensure parents and visitors do not drive into this area during designated times.

Ensure supervisors wear highly reflective vests so they are clearly visible to students, parents, and visitors.

Y N Bus Drop‐Off Area Concerns (continued) Ask your local law enforcement to park or patrol the area during drop off and pick up times.

Post signage that lists the time of the day that these areas are closed to others. Signage may do little to stop a parent from driving into a restricted area.

Post brightly colored barricades to prevent anyone from driving into these areas during designated times. Barricades must be erected to ensure that parents or visitors cannot simply drive around the barricade.

Staff and other school vehicles must have designated parking which is separate from the school bus loading zone. Install highly visible signage directing parking traffic to these areas.

Design your pedestrian walkways so they do not intersect with the bus loading zone.

Never allow students to cross between buses if they are walking away from the school to be picked up. Students should be instructed to walk around the back of the last school bus — supervisors can play a key role in ensuring that this takes place.

Y N Bus Drop‐Off Area Concerns (continued) Parents approaching the school to drop off their children should have a separate traffic area which separates their entrance from the school bus entrance. This will pre‐vent the dangerous exposure of a vehicle attempting to drive around a school bus while students are present. It will also prevent children from walking around or between school buses when entering or exiting the school.

Load students on school buses using scheduled ‘waves.’ Only when the school buses have entered the loading zone should students walk out of the school to enter the bus.

Instruct your bus loading supervisors to give a clear signal to bus drivers that the area is ‘all clear’ — a visual message indicating that no students are walking in or around the loading zone area. This process should be repeated until all buses have loaded students and left on their routes.

Consequences should be developed for parents, suppliers, or visitors who attempt to violate the traffic pattern parking rules developed by your school district. Law enforcement should be contacted to become involved in these situations.

Additional Comments:

Many school districts approve the use of video cameras for the purpose of reducing vandalism and disciplinary problems on the school bus. The ultimate goal is to allow the driver to focus on driving the bus, providing safer transportation for your students. When developing your district’s policy regarding the use of bus video cameras, keep the following considerations in mind:

Y N Video Cameras on School Buses Your school district should notify parents at the beginning of the school year that video cameras are being used on the buses. Notification can include inclusion in the student handbook, via a school newsletter/email, and during discussions at parent‐teacher conferences.

Clearly state the purpose of your bus videotaping is to document student misconduct and determine which student(s) may be involved. The use of video cameras on your buses is authorized for the purpose of maintaining order, preventing vandalism, or other illegal activities, and ensuring that all students have a safe and positive experience while riding on the bus. Also stress that your school district may take disciplinary action with students based on the video documentation.

The only individuals authorized to view videotapes should be your district’s transportation director, bus drivers, principals, board members, and the district administrator.

When a videotape is used as a disciplinary tool, your school district should adhere to the following provisions:

Y N Video Cameras on School Buses (continued) Only adult students (those at least 18 years old) and the parents/guardian of minor students can have access to the videotape.

Minor students should not have access to the videotape. Access does not mean an adult student or parent/guardian has permission to remove the videotape from the school district premises. Rather, all viewing should be performed with the business administrator or administrator’s designee in attendance.

The videotapes shall not be available for viewing by the general public, the media, or other individuals. The district administrator or transportation director may authorize a teacher or school guidance counselor, social worker, school board members, transportation committee members, or other pupil services professionals to view segments of a specific tape if:

• such individuals are working with the student on the videotape because of a behavior, emotional or learning problem; and

• viewing the videotape would be beneficial to their role in assisting the student.

Y N Video Cameras on School Buses (continued) If more than one student is identifiable in a given frame or series of frames, neither the student to be disciplined (regardless of age) nor their parent/guardian will be able to view the tape unless special precautions are taken. These include:

• the tape can be edited or altered so as to render all other students unrecognizable or;

• written consents are obtained from the other adult students and the parents/guardians of the other minor students. Consents must be signed, dated, and must specify the records to be disclosed, the purpose of the disclosure and the party or parties to whom disclosure may be made.

Develop timelines as to when bus videotapes can be deleted. For example, if there are no bus problems pertaining to the date a videotape was taped, the videotape may be erased or reused after three (3) student school days or ten (10) calendar days, whichever occurs first.

Stress in your policy that the district recognizes the confidentiality of student records pursuant to state and federal law. The school district must also recognize that any videotapes created are student records and subject to the protection of state and federal pupil records laws. As pupil records, these videotapes are confidential; disclosure or review is limited to those persons authorized by law to inspect pupil records.

Y N Video Cameras on School Buses (continued) The building principal should maintain a log regarding all requests to use a videotape, including the date(s) of request and the names of all individuals who viewed the videotape.

Your district administrator or his/her designee shall approve the rotation schedule of the cameras and maintain a log which includes the date, bus number, and driver. Bus drivers may not be informed as to the placement of the video camera. Individual drivers and principals may request that the video camera be on a specific bus on designated dates.

The video tapes shall not be available for viewing by the public or other school employees.

The principals/district administrator may authorize others (guidance counselor, school psychologist, or social worker), to view segments of a specific video tape, if such individuals are working with the student because of a behavior, emotional, or learning problem, and viewing the video tape is beneficial to their role in assisting the student. A log shall be kept of the date and names of the individuals viewing the video tape.

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