The Critical Role Bus Drivers Play in School Safety

When most people think of bus safety, the focus tends to be on the basics—ensuring good behavior, keeping buses in good working order, and having well-trained drivers. Just like every other aspect of school safety, we must approach bus safety through a different lens. Back when I was going to school, oh so many years ago, the primary concern for school bus safety was that we were all seated and not throwing things at each other. In our schools, safety meant not running in the hallways or tripping someone to make everyone else laugh. Today, school safety is entirely different. Today, we are concerned with suicidal and homicidal ideation and actions. That being said, most of our schools are still (Columbine was almost 26 years ago) pointing to someone else to keep us safe. We are still waiting for something to happen before we respond, and if we do anything, we look at the four walls of our schools to protect ourselves. 

Schools are an extension of our communities, and our communities are an extension of our schools. You cannot separate the two. We must understand that what happens in our schools impacts our communities and vice versa. Now, with that in mind, let’s look at school buses and other forms of transportation we use to get students to and from school, sporting events, field trips, etc. Buses (whether owned by the schools, contracted, or chartered), vans, sedans, etc., are all extensions of the school.

In many cases, school transportation is the entry point for the school. When a student gets on the bus early in the morning, the bus driver is the first school district employee to have an opportunity to interact with those students. Once the student enters the bus, they almost immediately interact with other students. These interactions can be positive, negative, or neutral in nature. Each bus and bus driver has a different culture based on the student's interactions with each other, particularly with the driver. Everyone on the bus is immersed in this subculture for up to an hour, twice a day. Ignoring this subculture's potential influence on students would be a mistake. 

Part of building a positive and supportive culture in your school is ensuring all of your employees, regardless of their position within the school, understand how they fit into that process and culture; this includes your bus drivers. We are not talking about getting them an advanced degree in childhood development. Still, we are talking about training them to recognize and report concerning behaviors. While staying professional and staying within their roles, we must train them to create a positive and supportive relationship with their students.

When we look at the role of the bus driver and how they are the first and often the last point of contact between the students and the school, they are the first opportunity for many students to change their pathway for the better or worse.

Here are a few things you can do to make your buses safer:

1. Ensure your buses and their drivers are included in your school safety plans.
2. Create specific drills for buses and drivers;
   1. Fire emergency
   2. How to lockdown a bus
   3. Bus evacuation
   4. Medical emergencies on the bus
   5. Acts of violence on the bus
   6. Severe weather events
   7. Etc.
3. Ensure bus drivers understand when to return to the school with their students, when to stay away from the school, and when to contact law enforcement directly.
4. Train your drivers to be aware of their surroundings and the students' behaviors. Drivers should be aware of the baseline behaviors of their students and when those behaviors change noticeably. It is these changes in behavior that we are looking for and putting into context. 
5. Create a mechanism for drivers to report their concerns. 
6. Ensure they understand who to notify to get an immediate response should they need it.
7. Create enforceable policies that can hold people (students and drivers) accountable for their actions and sometimes their inactions.
8. Lastly, in most states, bus drivers are mandatory reporters. Ensure they understand these requirements. 

Buses are not just vehicles to transport students to and from school. Buses are an extension of the school and essential to your school's safety program. If they are appropriately integrated, the drivers can become a very valuable early warning system for students struggling with mental health issues or who are planning some act of violence, either on the bus or at school.