A webinar presented by national transportation contractor First Student dove into collaborative ways to reduce student behavior incidents and provide care to students with special needs.

Transportation and education are too often siloed into separate units when they should be a Venn diagram with significant overlap, said William McDermott, head of student services for First Student, during the Thursday conversation hosted by School Transportation News, which had over 100 viewers.

“We need to take the education industry and the transportation industry and mesh them together to create the best bus ride and the best student experience,” he declared. “What you can do in the school, you can do on the bus. It might be modified but it still works.”

Dr. Susan King, special education professor at George Washington University and consultant for CLP Consulting Group, spoke from experience. She said that educators may not give much thought to how students get to and from school but noted that they should because students may require time to calm down after a suboptimal experience on the bus and lose out on learning time.

Laura Greene-Halley, First Student’s senior director of safety, performance and improvement, explained that the contractor’s behavior improvement and special needs student support program called First Serves focuses on collaboration, intervention and accommodations.

“We need to make sure the transportation team’s efforts mirror the student’s Individualized Education Program (IEP) efforts,” she said. “Those communications, when we’re inclusive and we bring all of those critical groups together, are purposeful and designed to meet the individual needs of each child.”

The school bus ride isn’t just about physical safety but also getting students to school ready to learn, she pointed out. She agreed with McDermott’s Venn diagram assessment, adding that information should not be siloed. Instead, the same techniques and language used by teachers in the classroom should also be used on the school bus. Additionally, school bus staff knowing about a student’s diagnosis isn’t as important as knowing details on what their individual likes and dislikes are.

Reducing Behavior Incidents

Greene-Halley addressed the commonly echoed sentiments of school bus drivers that student behavior incidents are increasing while they feel unsupported by district administration. King said that this trend spiked in classrooms and general education school buses following COVID-19, thus making it not just a special needs issue anymore.

School bus drivers and aides must be trained to respond rather than react, Greene-Halley said. While reaction to student behavior is a normal human response, King added that often escalates the behavior. She said that she doesn’t believe in crisis management, but in preventing the escalation that would lead to a crisis.

“The best intervention is the driver and attendant’s healthy and appropriate relationship with the students,” McDermott said.

Sometimes the best interventions are simple, like providing students with books to read or color, he said. He shared the story of Battle Ground Public Schools in Washington state, which discovered that math flashcards were the key to calming a student with challenging behaviors who was previously refused transportation services.

Greene-Halley said this is why it’s important to learn from parents what their child likes. Parental perspective and knowledge are crucial parts of the transportation picture, King concurred.

Data collection from school bus drivers, students, parents and district administration helps everyone stay on the same page. McDermott added that digital data collection is more useful than paper forms that get filed away.

King advised constant appraisal to ensure the necessary components of collaboration, communication and cooperation are being utilized.

McDermott agreed, noting that continual re-evaluation is needed to ensure all school bus drivers and aides are trained and equipped so bus rides are smoother, student educational goals are supported and staff retention is increased.

McDermott explained that First Student uses a variety of school bus and vehicle sizes, with and without aides, to provide the least restrictive environment for students on their rides to and from school while also remaining budget-conscious.

First Student’s scale and numerous bus routes completed every day create learning opportunities and scenarios ripe for training, Greene-Halley added.

Watch the webinar on demand. 

Learn more about student behavior, staff training and related topics at the Transporting Students with Disabilities & Special Needs Conference and Trade Show held in Frisco, Texas from Nov. 7-12.

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