Six students escaped injury after their school bus caught fire in an Evansville subdivision in Indiana, with district officials crediting an experienced driver for evacuating the children at the first sign of smoke, reported WKRC News.

The Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation bus drive noticed smoke coming from beneath the hood during a route and immediately pulled over. She then got all six students off the bus and moved them a safe distance away before the engine caught fire.

“She was in a subdivision at the time, and at the first indication of a light amount of smoke, she evacuated the six students that were on board,” Jason Woebkenberg, chief communications officer for the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation, told local reporters.

A neighbor reportedly described a loud boom accompanying the fire, telling news reporters that the sound resembled a bomb. The children had already been evacuated before the engine caught fire, Woebkenberg said.

A replacement school bus arrived to pick up the students and complete their trip to school. Despite the fire and the need to transfer to another vehicle, all six children arrived at school safely and on time. No injuries were reported among the students.

Woebkenberg praised the bus driver’s quick response and the students’ actions during the evacuation. He pointed to emergency practice as preparation for situations requiring children to leave a bus quickly.

“It was handled tremendously by the driver and by the students as well. That’s why we practice these things,” Woebkenberg said via the report.

The driver’s name and length of service were not included in the information provided. She was described as an experienced school bus driver.

Investigators were working to determine what caused the fire. It was not immediately known what led to the engine catching fire after the driver stopped.

Written with the assistance of AI.

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A 27-year-old Minnesota man is being credited with stopping a runaway school bus carrying nearly 20 children after the driver suffered a medical emergency, reported ABC News.

Ebro Ahmed told local news reporters that he was standing outside Ya Bricks Snacks and Tobacco on Monday, when he noticed a school bus traveling past the convenience store with its door wide open.

After looking inside, Ahmed said he saw the driver experiencing what appeared to be a seizure. He immediately ran toward the runaway school bus, jumped aboard and pulled the emergency brake, stopping the vehicle before it could crash.

“I really felt like it was my duty,” Ahmed said. “Also, too, it’s kids we’re talking about, you know. Even if I were to die, it would still be worth it.”

Surveillance video released by the convenience store captured Ahmed running alongside the bus before climbing aboard. The footage also showed the bus coming to a stop shortly afterward.

Ahmed said some of the students were screaming while others remained calm during the incident. He credited two girls seated near the front of the bus with helping him manage the situation.

“These two girls on the front really did help me a lot,” Ahmed said. “I threw my phone and my glasses at one of them, and I told her to hold it.”

Ahmed also said the long-running television medical drama “Grey’s Anatomy” helped him remain composed during the emergency. He said the program offers lessons about how to react in unexpected situations.

Saint Paul Public Schools confirmed via the news report that a medical emergency occurred aboard one of its buses, and that paramedics responded to the scene. The district did not disclose additional information about the driver’s condition.

No injuries were reported among the students or others involved, according to the district.

Students aboard the runaway school bus were transferred to another vehicle and taken home following the incident. Counselors also checked in with the students Tuesday to offer support after the frightening experience.

The district did not immediately provide further details about the bus route, the school the students attended, or how far the vehicle traveled before Ahmed stopped it.

Written with the assistance of AI.

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Several school districts were affected by Hurricane Isaias, which made landfall near Destin, Florida as a Category 2 hurricane. It ripped through the Florida Panhandle, creating destruction for homes, businesses and schools.

One of the most affected counties by the Oct. 9 Hurricane, Santa Rosa, experienced winds up to 116 mph. Santa Rosa County Public Schools spokeswoman Katelyn Kent told School Transportation News that Isaias impacted all 36 schools across the district to varying degrees.

On Oct. 11, Gov. Ron DeSantis held a press conference and stated, “We want to give people an opportunity to be in school as quickly as possible.”

With aspirations of returning to school Oct. 14, DeSantis noted that “state teams were helping to clear bus routes and assist school districts to get schools open.”

Meanwhile, Santa Rosa Superintendent Dr. Karen Barber noted in a conference that, “Transporting 16,000 students can be a difficult challenge, and buses won’t be able to get down every route,” Barber said. “We will have alternative routes.”

However, on Tuesday, Oct. 13, Santa Rosa County Schools held a school board meeting and unanimously voted to remain closed for the rest of the week, until Monday, Oct. 19.

Kent added that several campuses required repairs, including transportation routes, making an Oct. 14 return unreasonable.

Since then, DeSantis has submitted a request to President Donald Trump for approval for major federal disaster declaration. According to the Executive Office of the Governor, the request “seeks additional federal resources to support impacted communities across Northwest Florida, including public assistance for 15 counties and Individual Assistance for eligible residents in eight designated counties.”

As DeSantis is not fully counting on the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Santa Rosa County Schools are relying on their facilities, maintenance and transportation departments as well as state and local partners to prepare for the return of students and staff on Monday, Oct. 19.

As for how bus routes are operating on Monday, Kent said that they expect regular operations as students will be picked up and dropped off at their normal bus stops and scheduled times. This could not have been done without state and local agencies, along with county officials, as Kent said, they “worked hard to ensure routes are safe and accessible for school buses.”

Meanwhile, other districts shut down either in preparation for the storm, or following the storm’s aftermath. Escambia County Schools encompassing Pensacola closed for two days after the hurricane with limited access to power.

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At Walton County School District, spokesman Joshua Bledsoe said that Hurricane Isaias did not result in a need to alter school bus routes.

“Thankfully, due to the power restoration efforts, the roadways were cleared prior to our resuming classes [Oct.14],” he told STN, adding that school officials drove all routes to ensure they were traversable by bus.

Catherine Card, spokeswoman for Okaloosa County School District, said schools closed ahead of the storm to allow time to prepare. “We continued to adjust our reopening timeline based on facility assessments, storm impacts and the needs of our families and employees,” she said.

The district reopened Thursday, Oct. 15.

“From a transportation standpoint, the storm significantly impacted several bus routes in both the northern and southern parts of the county,” she added, noting that stop-arms on a few school buses were damaged. “After the storm, members of our transportation department drove routes to assess road conditions and determine whether buses could pass.”

She noted that when students and staff returned, the roads along the routes were accessible for transportation.

“In anticipation of potential route changes, we had a communication plan in place to notify families through our district communication platform if adjustments were necessary,” Card said. “This helped ensure families could receive timely information about any changes affecting their students’ transportation.

“Our transportation team played an important role in assessing conditions and preparing for a safe return to school. We appreciate their efforts, along with the many district employees who helped us resume operations after the storm.”

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TSD Conference attendees making travel plans for November may want to think twice before booking their flight home.

A new two-hour experience, “Big Ideas and TSD Takeaways,” concludes the 2026 TSD Conference on Tuesday, Nov. 10, from 8 to 10 a.m. Rather than simply recapping the event, the interactive session is being designed to challenge attendees with the kinds of complicated, real-world situations that student transporters regularly encounter, and that are not addressed in a student’s Individualized Education Program (IEP).

The featured workshop, “Twists, Turns & Modifications: A Scenario-based Workshop for Achieving Safety, Compliance & Best Practices in Transportation,” will ask participants to work through scenarios involving students with disabilities and special needs. The answer may not be as simple as following a written procedure, and it is highly likely is no time to wait for an IEP team to reconvene and address the issue.

School buses and other school vehicles are dynamic environments. An IEP may establish transportation requirements, but not every situation that develops during a route can be anticipated on paper. Safety concerns, changing student needs, medical issues, behavior and other circumstances can require transportation professionals and collaborators to assess what is happening, determine what can safely be done in the moment and understand what should happen next.

That intersection between compliance and real-world decision-making will form the foundation of the closing workshop. Organizers are developing scenarios that will allow attendees to discuss possible responses, hear different perspectives and examine how transportation, special education, medical and therapeutic considerations can influence a decision.

The goal is to make the final two hours of the TSD Conference some of the most participatory and practical of the entire conference — while giving attendees an opportunity to connect lessons learned throughout the week and take those ideas back to their operations.

Twists, Turns & Modifications” also serves as the logical bookend for Friday, Nov. 6 opening general session “When Guidance is Incorrect or Missing.”  Following a keynote by behavior expert Patrick Mulick, TSD Tenured Faculty members Alexandra Robinson, Launi Harden and Sue Shutrump will discuss the importance of not accepting direction from superiors that contradicts regulations, compliance or best practices. The session is based on an article written by fellow TSD Tenured Faculty Member Emeritus Linda Bluth, which will appear in the October edition of School Transportation News magazine. Attendees will receive strategies on how to handle these situations.

Main Conference registration is currently $499 under the Early Bird rate through Oct. 2, a $100 savings from standard registration beginning Oct. 3. Registration includes access to keynote, general and breakout educational sessions as well as conference networking events.

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A Mount Vernon School District bus driver died after suffering a medical emergency at a student pickup location in Mitchell, South Dakota.

Dean Deinert, 66, died Aug. 26 after experiencing the medical emergency at the Davison County Fairgrounds, also known as the 4-H grounds. According to his obituary, Deinert died unexpectedly from a heart attack.

Davison County Sheriff Steve Harr told School Transportation News that a call came in at approximately 7:29 a.m. reporting that a bus driver was unconscious and not breathing well.

Mitchell Emergency Medical Services, the Mitchell Police Department and the Davison County Sheriff’s Office responded to the fairgrounds, which serves as a Mount Vernon School District pickup point for students from Mitchell.

An off-duty nurse performed lifesaving measures at the scene until paramedics arrived, Harr said. Deinert was transported by ambulance to Queen of Peace Hospital in Mitchell, where he later died.

Harr added that there was nothing suspicious about the incident.

The school district initially informed families that morning of the incident. The district said all students were safe, and another driver was able to take over the bus and transport them to school.

Counselors were also made available at school for anyone who needed support.

Following Deinert’s death, the district sent age-specific resources home with students who rode the Mitchell bus. The materials provided guidance for families on discussing the medical emergency with children, recognizing possible emotional and behavioral reactions, and determining when additional support might be necessary.

The guides indicated that students witnessed the emergency and sought help from adults. They emphasized that the children acted appropriately by getting adults, who performed CPR.

The district later shared the resources on social media, saying they could also be helpful for students who did not ride the bus that evening.

School Transportation News reached out to the Mount Vernon School District for additional information but did not receive a response as of this writing.

Deinert had only recently started driving a school bus at the beginning of the school year, according to his obituary. A lifelong resident of Mount Vernon community, he graduated from Mount Vernon High School in 1978.

He spent 38 years as an over-the-road truck driver before beginning work at the Mount Vernon Farmers Elevator in 2017. Deinert continued working there until his death and had planned to retire Nov. 1.

The obituary described Deinert as a familiar and well-known member of the Mount Vernon community who was devoted to his family, especially his seven grandchildren.

Deinert is survived by his wife, Donna; his children and stepchildren; his mother; six brothers; seven grandchildren; and other relatives.

The district announced that the Tom Young Community Center would be closed Aug. 29 and Aug. 30 for preparations and services honoring Deinert.

A celebration of his life was held Aug. 30 at the community center, with a private burial planned for a later date at Emsley Cemetery in Ethan, South Dakota.

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