It’s no secret that student transportation staff play critical roles in the daily lives of the students on their routes. At the Transporting Students with Disabilities and Special Needs (TSD) Conference this fall, a new keynote speaker will share with attendees how they can create a positive environment onboard the bus to benefit student behavior outcomes.

Lisa Navarra’s keynote, “The Power of Praise: Shaping Student Behavior and Building Success on the Bus” is scheduled for Monday, Nov. 10 at the TSD Conference in Frisco, Texas. She will present research-based strategies for behavior specific praise as an interventional practice that assists students with their transportation routines, based on real-world interactions of school bus drivers with their students. She will discuss the types of praise that encourages student cooperation, how to phrase positive reinforcement phrases, and how all these practices help to shape the emotional and behavioral students and foster resilience.

Navarra has spent nearly three decades working with students with disabilities, not only in a classroom setting, but also transportation with her development of the Launch! School Bus Safety Program, intervention-based training that works with students to maintain behavioral expectations across educational settings and further safety. The New York-based behavior expert has been recognized with national awards for her work to ensure student safety and school-ready behavior and equip school district staff with tools to further student success and inclusion. Navarra was the recipient of the Teacher’s Federal Credit Union grant in 2024, after being voted the first place winner out of 1,500 nominees for the the institution’s national Teacher Appreciation Week contest.

Navarra was a special education teacher for 20 years and has a master’s degree in special education and certificate in school district administration. She is also an author of multiple behavioral and self-regulation books, including “Henry & Friends: A Bus Voice Adventure,” a children’s book that helps prepare students for their first school bus ride.

For more details on the 2025 TSD speakers, visit tsdconference.com. The TSD Conference will be held November 6-11 at the Embassy Suites Dallas-Frisco Hotel and Convention Center. Register by October 3 to save $100 on main conference registration with the Early Bird Discount.

Related: TSD Conference Topics Plan to Cover Unique Aspects of Transporting Students
Related: Ride and Drive, Technology Product Demos Return to Texas in November
Related: TSD Conference Opens with Message of Empathy for Challenging Behaviors on School Buses

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A Nashville family is raising serious concerns after a 5-year-old kindergartner with autism was mistakenly placed on a school bus and then left wandering alone for nearly an hour on Monday afternoon, reported WSMV 4.

Zontrail Brinson, a nonverbal student at Ida B. Wells Elementary School, was supposed to be picked up by a parent at school dismissal. However, school officials said there was a “tagging error,” and Brinson was placed on a school bus then dropped off several blocks away, alone and unsupervised.

“It’s scary. I wouldn’t want to be alone by myself, especially being nonverbal,” said Rosalind Derrick, Brinson’s grandmother.

She explained that the family only learned of the incident when Brinson’s mother arrived at the school to pick him up and was told he wasn’t there.

Derrick told local news reporters that Brinson was dropped off at the intersection of 7th Street and Howerton, near Meigs Middle School, and began walking down the sidewalk. She said the school bus driver briefly spoke to the child but received no response and allowed him to exit the bus.

“When you didn’t see an adult, you should have just called the school or taken him back to the school,” she advised.

Brinson was eventually located by a police officer at a nearby playground and safely reunited with his family. While thankful unharmed, Derrick said the ordeal is every parent and guardian’s nightmare.

“I’m a praying grandmother. I was just praying and trusting that he would be found and everything would be okay,” she said.

Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) acknowledged the incident and apologized.

“We deeply regret the distress this caused the family and are grateful the student was found safe,” said Sean Braisted, a district spokesperson. “As soon as the school was notified, staff and a school resource officer responded quickly and located the student at a park near his home. The school and transportation teams are reviewing the incident and reinforcing dismissal protocols to help ensure this does not happen again.”

Braisted clarified that as part of MNPS’s onboarding process, all kindergarten students zoned for school bus service receive a transportation tag. In this case, a teacher mistakenly attached a bus tag to Brinson’s backpack, which led to him being placed on a school bus despite the family’s plan for him to be picked up.

Related: California Student Left Alone in Hot School Bus
Related: Georgia Woman Outraged After Daughter Kicked Off School Bus During Rainstorm
Related: Ohio Parents Sue School District After 6-Year-Old Left on Bus for Hours
Related: 6-Year-Old Left on School Bus for Hours

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The Transporting Students with Disabilities and Special Needs (TSD) Conference in Frisco, Texas this fall looks to address the unique challenges and considerations of transporting this at-risk population.

Providing the best care for the students, empowering the transportation staff, and building an operational culture of communication and clear policies will be discussed by industry veterans, transportation consultants, and school district and bus company staff members.

In the driver training category, session topics include how to model behavior interventions in transportation settings, training for empathy of children’s needs, providing training for the service of medically fragile riders, and other proactive training educational discussions.

For upholding legal requirements and federal standards, speakers will plan to address topics such as impact of the updated National School Bus Specifications and Procedures on operations, alternative transportation, Medicaid reimbursement funding, and developing policies for proper and safe usage of student restraint and seclusion practices.

To address collaborating with contractors or other resources to aid student transportation, examples of topics include how to avoid one-size-fits-all solutions, how to create successful partnerships between school districts and contractors, and the OT/PT Transporter Forum on multidisciplinary policy development.

In addition to the hands-on training classes that cover wheelchair securement, school bus evacuations and use of child safety restraint systems on school buses, instructors from the Texas School for the Deaf will provide training for student transporters on using American Sign Language to communicate.

For a full list of 2025 TSD conference topics, visit tsdconference.com.

Save $100 on regular conference registration with Early Bird registration by Oct. 3. The TSD Conference will be held November 6-11 in Frisco, Texas at the Embassy Suites Dallas-Frisco Hotel and Convention Center. Find more information on daily agenda, unique experiences, hotel and registration at tsdconference.com

Related: TSD Conference Registration is Open for Event in November
Related: TSD Evacuation Class Emphasizes Importance of Training
Related: (STN Podcast E236) TSD 2024 Recap: Supporting Students with Special Needs as Unique People

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School districts attempt to navigate the clean fuel struggle between the California Air Resources Board and the Trump administration. Chicago uses multimodal systems to provide student service.

Quanika Dukes-Spruill, executive director of transportation services for the Newark Board of Education’s Office of Pupil Transportation in New Jersey, discusses working with contractors, securing Medicaid reimbursements, and implementing electric buses and alternative transportation.

Read more about operations.

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The post (STN Podcast E262) Assess & Fix: The NJ Transportation Director Managing 63 Contractors appeared first on School Transportation News.

A Staten Island school bus matron New York City’s term for an aide or monitor — for students with special needs pleaded guilty to criminal trespassing after being accused of invading the home of a family from her route with a knife, reported SLive News.

The incident reportedly occurred on Dec. 6, when 59-year-old Joanne Dash entered the unidentified family’s property in the New Springville neighborhood.

According to the news report, a person at the home told authorities the defendant was in the area that leads to the main living room armed with a knife. An 18-year-old male resident came downstairs and encountered Dash before she fled in a vehicle but not before shouting, “You cost me my job.”

Dash was reportedly arrested on Dec. 17. Court documents do not state whether she had any interactions with anyone at the home prior to the incident, but sources with knowledge of the case said the victims were from her school bus route.

The article states that Dash was arraigned in criminal court on May 1, was granted supervised release, and appeared in supreme court last week on her own volition. The court, meanwhile, issued a full and final order of protection for the owner and residence of the property where the incident took place.

On June 5 while in court, Dash’s attorney John Rapawy told the judge that his client was fully aware of the terms of her plea deal and that she had full support of her family in putting the matter behind her. It remains unclear why Dash tresspassed the property in the first place.

The defendant reportedly assured the court that she was willing to waive several rights in taking a guilty plea, including the right to appeal and to review the prosecution’s evidence.

Per the approval of prosecutors and after further investigation, the court ordered Dash to complete 16 courses of anger management as a means to resolve the case. The defendant was reportedly facing the possibility of between five and 25 years in prison had she been convicted by a jury on the top count in connection to the incident.

If Dash violates the terms of the plea deal, she could be sentenced to one year in jail.

Related: Alaska School Bus Driver Arrested for DUI, Firearm Possession
Related: Alabama School Bus Driver Arrested for Allegedly Assaulting Student with Special Needs
Related: North Carolina Student Brings Knife on School Bus
Related: West Virginia School Bus Driver Accused of DUI, Accepts Guilty Plea

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Congress debates green regulations as bus manufacturers and school districts adjust and wait. The Great Seatbelt Debate continues as Illinois moves closer to requiring lap/shoulder belts on school buses.

Denise Donaldson is the editor and publisher of Safe Ride News Publications and an instructor for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s child passenger safety technician course offered at STN EXPO and the TSD Conference. She discusses training, guidelines, and legislation updates relating to the securement and transportation of young students or those with special needs.

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The post (STN Podcast E261) A Safe Ride: Market Shifts & Child Passenger Securement appeared first on School Transportation News.

Registration for the 2025 Transporting Students with Disabilities and Special Needs (TSD) Conference is now open.

Each year, student transportation professionals gather in Frisco, Texas, for a transformative event designed to inspire and equip attendees with practical solutions that enhance safety for students with disabilities and for preschoolers. This year’s conference will feature inspiring keynotes, engaging educational sessions, opportunities for hands-on training, and networking events.

The conference will open with a Welcome Party at Topgolf the Colony on Nov. 6. Over the course of the next five days, attendees will hear from industry experts on various aspects of safely transporting students with disabilities as well as preschoolers and how to empower transportation staff to care for their most vulnerable student riders.

Three keynote sessions are currently planned. “Developmentally Appropriate Safety Education” presented by Michele Gay, co-founder of Safe and Sound Schools and the mother of Sandy Hook shooting victim Josephine Grace Gay, opens the education on Friday, Nov. 7. Special education attorney Betsey Helfrich will share recent and pertinent legal information and summaries of case law Saturday, Nov. 8. Sunday, Nov. 9, will feature the presentation “Fostering Inclusive Practices & Support Accessibility in Education” by Glenna Wright-Gallo, who was the assistant secretary of education for special education and rehabilitative services at the U.S. Department of Education in 2023 and 2024 and is now a vice president of policy for education technology company Everway.

Training classes include the eight-hour, NHTSA-sponsored Child Passenger Safety on School Bus seminar, the Wheelchair Securement Boot Camp Training & Certification by AMF-Bruns, the Hands-on School Bus Evacuations for Students with Special Needs & Preschoolers Training, and the roadeo competition sponsored by Q’Straint/Sure-Lok, which also provides wheelchair securement training to roadeo contestants as well as conference attendees before the competition on Saturday.

The Safety & Technology Product Demonstration/Special Needs Ride & Drive also returns this year as does the Trade Show and Tailgate Reception, featuring vendors showcasing their technology offerings to benefit transportation operations.

The TSD Conference will be held Nov. 6-11, 2025, at the Embassy Suites Dallas Frisco.

Register by Aug. 8 to save $200 on main conference registration with Super Early Bird Savings. Find conference dates, hotel information and exhibitor list at tsdconference.com.

Related: (STN Podcast E236) TSD 2024 Recap: Supporting Students with Special Needs as Unique People
Related: WATCH: TSD 2024 Recap
Related: TSD Conference Opens with Message of Empathy for Challenging Behaviors on School Buses

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A Colorado school district paid $16.2 million for abuse of a five-year-old student by a bus attendant. Additionally, New York’s electric school bus mandate is nearing and questions persist. Read more in STN’s June issue, out now.

Following the death of an Ohio student near a transit bus stop, safety conversations have reignited. Michael Miller, transportation director for Sycamore Community Schools and president of the Ohio Association for Pupil Transportation, is joined by Todd Silverthorn, second OAPT vice president and transportation director for Kettering School District. They discuss how legislation and the driver shortage complicate operations and analyze the controversial use of transit buses and vans to provide required transportation to non-public schools.

Read more about safety.

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The post (STN Podcast E260) Beneficial and Safe: Ohio Standouts Talk Safety vs. Reactionary Legislation appeared first on School Transportation News.