FRISCO, Texas – The Hands-on School Bus Evacuations for Students with Special Needs & Preschoolers class took place on both Friday and Saturday at Frisco ISD. Instructors included industry veterans and consultants Denny Coughlin and Launi Harden; Aaron Harris, national sales manager for seating manufacturer BESI; and Diandra Neugent, transportation manager for the Community Council of Idaho.

Classroom instruction and quiz time was followed by hands-on practice with fire extinguishers. Fake smoke was used to fill a bus on which were placed hidden dolls representing student riders. Participants braved the smoke to “rescue” the students, with some becoming emotional.

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Photos by Kristine Hannon. 

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Read remembrances of industry veteran George Edward (Ed) Donn and watch recent STN webinars on fleet electrification and school bus W-Fi.

The upcoming Transporting Students with Disabilities & Special Needs (TSD) Conference and Trade Show held Nov. 8-12, 2024 in Dallas-Frisco, Texas, hosts the conversations that transportation and education departments need to align on regarding students with special needs.

Industry consultant and TSD Tenured Faculty member Launi Schmutz-Harden joins us to discuss the role of monitors and aides on special needs routes, the hands-on emergency evacuation training at TSD, and regulating the use of non-yellow bus transportation.

Read more about special needs.

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Greenville County Schools in South Carolina released this video showing a bus evacuation drill at Duncan Chapel Elementary School. The video featured members of the district’s transportation team explaining the importance of frequent emergency trainings.

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Ahead of Hurricane Milton making landfall along the Florida Gulf Coast and mass evacuations, school districts across the state have been preparing for the so-called “storm of the century.”

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says Milton is a “dangerous major hurricane” that was expected to make landfall Wednesday evening. Earlier Wednesday, NOAA said Milton was a Category 4 hurricane with sustained winds of about 145 mph. The massive storm is projected to cut across the Florida peninsula and remain a hurricane until it reaches the Atlantic Ocean. A storm surge of 15 feet or greater is expected all along the Florida Gulf Coast, with the Tampa-St. Petersburg, Sarasota and Fort Myers areas especially impacted.

Many areas along the Gulf Coast are still recovering from Hurricane Helene that hit a week ago.

On Wednesday, Gov. Ron DeSantis tweeted that even if Milton weakens before making landfall, it “will be a major hurricane with catastrophic impacts on our state … Time is running out …”

While many Florida residents evacuated out of state, DeSantis advised that even evacuations of 10 miles away from the coast can help residents avoid the deadly storm surge. He said everyone should be prepared for widespread power outages. Florida also has over 50,000 electrical linemen “and all the necessary equipment staged just outside of Milton’s path.”

School Transportation News reached out to several school districts to gauge how they were preparing for Milton. Orange County Public Schools serving the Orlando area was the only one to respond at this report.

While Orlando is normally a destination for residents seeking shelter from hurricanes, as most reduce to a tropical storm by the time they get there, Milton is expected to also cause tornados in addition to torrential rain and flooding. William Wen, the senior director of transportation services for Orange County Public Schools, told STN on Tuesday that staff begins topping of school bus fuel tanks 24 hours out from a storm’s arrival.

“When we shut down, all buses will nearly be full and our fuel suppliers can top off our tanks at our fuel islands at six locations,” he said. “With the buses full and fueling stations at capacity, we can operate for about 1 week without needing another fuel delivery, if needed. It’s important to be ready to support schools to reopen for students as soon as it is safe after a storm event.”

The transportation department is also part of the District Incident Management Team, which is led by the OCPS Safety and Emergency Management (SEM) department. Leaders from all district departments make up the team.

“When a storm is approaching, regular virtual meetings are set up for storm updates, to review what each department is doing in preparation of the storm, how we can support each other, and to review plans for recovery,” Wen explained.

The district’s SEM Department communicates closely with the local and state offices of emergency management, Wen continued. The SEM department assigns staff to the local county emergency operations center as the district provides schools for shelters as needed.

“Transportation services serves as the back up to the local transit authority for mass evacuations,” he added. “At the start of each school year, we gather a list of school bus drivers that are willing to help during an emergency for us to call when needed.”

The Washington Post reported that Milton could be Florida’s largest evacuation since Hurricane Irma in 2017.

Wen noted that all OCPS transportation sites are located above flood zones, so the devastation that coastal districts can sustain is usually not the case in Orlando. “We are anticipating tropical storm sustained winds up to 65 mph and hurricane level wind gusts up to 75 to 90 mph from Milton,” he said.

Transportation staff also remove anything from parking lots and facilities that can blow away, and older buses are parked around the buildings to block major debris from hitting windows and doors, he explained. The buses are parked together with passenger doors facing inward to minimize winds from blowing them open. Stop arms are secured to prevent them from being blown out.

“Once all the buses are back from the last runs, we park the older buses to circle around the rest to protect them from wind and debris damage,” Wen shared.

After a storm passes, “when it’s safe to venture out,” Wen said, area transportation managers visit their services areas to determine if roads are flooded or blocked by debris. They report to the senior transportation staff member assigned to the OCPS emergency coordination center the areas that need attention for debris removal and traffic signal repairs.

OCPS is closed Wednesday through Friday due to the storm and will reopen on Tuesday after an already scheduled student holiday-teacher workday on Monday. The Florida Department of Education said 46 county school districts are closed Wednesday, 45 on Thursday, and 29 on Friday.

Related: Deadly Hurricane Helene Closes Schools in Multiple States Amid Catastrophic Flooding
Related: Hurricane Idalia Aftermath Prompts Additional Relief Efforts by Bus
Related: Florida School Districts Relied on Resiliency to Rebound from Hurricane Ian
Related: Puerto Rico Yet Again in Recovery Mode Following Powerful Hurricane

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Registration is open for the annual roadeo training and competition held during the Transporting Students with Special Needs and Disabilities (TSD) Conference.

Presented by School Transportation News and Women in Transportation (wit.), and sponsored by Q’Straint/Sure-Lok, the event invites any transportation teams of drivers and attendants from across North America to participate, even if they have never participated in a previous state, provincial or national roadeo competition. The only pre-requisite is that participating teams download and complete the Roadeo Competition Knowledge Test and bring it with them to the event.

The roadeo competition will begin on Friday, Nov. 8 with a Hands-On Securement Training provided by Q’Straint/SURE-LOK. On Saturday, Nov. 9, roadeo teams will be transported to Frisco Independent School District for the competition, which will be followed by an evening Roadeo Competition Banquet & Awards ceremony.

The teams will conduct real passenger pickups, railroad crossing, parking in a confined space, and handling an unauthorized parent boarding the school bus. The student passengers are played by adult volunteers portraying various special needs or disabilities such as visual or hearing impairment or intellectual disabilities. Teams will be judged based on factors such as pre-check inspection, wheelchair loading and securement, child safety restraint securement, and the handling of simulated emergency events.

Read more about the 2023 Roadeo Competition Winners

Teams will attend a Sunday, Nov. 10 debriefing meeting with roadeo judges.

All roadeo teams are invited to attend the TSD Trade Show Tailgate Reception as well as the trade show on Monday. They will also receive entry to any educational sessions and events held Friday through Sunday, including the “De-escalation with Dignity” workshop as well as the Lunch and Learn, afternoon educational sessions and the Safety & Technology Product Demonstration & Special Needs Ride & Drive.

A full schedule and list of other conference sessions that roadeo-only registrants may attend is available at www.tsdconference.com/roadeo.

In addition to the roadeo, this year’s TSD Conference will feature over two dozen educational sessions and workshops, hands-on wheelchair and child securement training, product demonstrations, a trade show and other networking opportunities with peers and vendors.

Save $100 on main conference registration with the Early Bird Discount, available through Oct.4. Visit tsdconference.com to register and view the conference agenda. The TSD Conference will be held Nov. 7 through Nov. 12.

Related: Behavior Expert Brings Special Needs De-Escalation Tools to TSD Conference
Related: Mulick Returns to TSD Conference to Help Student Transporters Better Understand Autism
Related: Emotions Run High During TSD Conference School Bus Evacuation Class

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