Technology experts explained how AI can help school bus drivers spot students in blind zones, prevent collisions and improve safety, without replacing driver judgment.
AI could give school bus drivers an extra set of eyes when students are most vulnerable: Boarding, exiting and crossing near the school bus, according to a Thursday webinar sponsored by Brigade Electronics. The company’s representatives discussed how AI-powered cameras can recognize pedestrians, cyclists and other hazards, then alert drivers before an incident occurs.
CEO Corey Heniser said traditional cameras provide visibility, but AI adds the ability to recognize people and issue active warnings.
“It can identify the human form and what we call it as human form recognition,” he explained. “That will identify individuals, pedestrians, as well as small students around a vehicle and allow you to take evasive action where needed.”
Protecting Students in Blind Zones
Steve Wenger, Brigade’s OEM business development manager, said school buses present significant visibility challenges because of their size and the number of students moving around them.
Wenger explained that AI-enabled, 360-degree camera systems can monitor blind spots and identify people approaching or moving alongside a bus. He added that the technology can support driver awareness during loading and unloading.
“Artificial intelligence is a human-taught technology,” Wenger said, explaining that developers train systems to recognize hazards and determine when to alert operators.
Brigade’s presentation highlighted a camera system with full 360-degree visibility and AI-powered pedestrian detection. Another application adapts technology originally developed to protect workers behind waste trucks to help monitor students around school buses, according to the slide deck.
Wenger emphasized that AI should complement established safety practices.
“Artificial intelligence is not necessarily replacing judgment or experience or the many trainings that an operator goes through,” he said, adding that instead, it can provide earlier warnings and better information when drivers need to make critical decisions.
Helping School Bus Drivers Prevent Crashes
Jeff Schweitzer, Brigade’s national sales manager, said AI offers particular value to districts experiencing driver turnover and increasingly complicated traffic conditions.
“Today’s drivers need more support [now] than ever,” he said.
Schweitzer explained that AI cameras can monitor high-risk areas and notify drivers while they still have time to respond. He contrasted that capability with traditional video systems, which primarily document incidents afterward.
“Prevention is more valuable than recording,” he noted.
Wenger also covered AI dashcams that can warn drivers about potential collisions, unsafe following distances and lane departures. Driver-facing cameras can identify fatigue, distraction and handheld-device use, while connected systems allow transportation departments to review events and provide targeted coaching.
Schweitzer said those capabilities can help newer drivers develop situational awareness.
“Experience definitely cannot be built overnight,” he noted.
Turning Safety Data Into Action
Heniser said districts could eventually combine AI camera information with telematics to identify near misses, recognize recurring hazards and tailor driver coaching for school bus drivers with more close calls.
Brigade’s slide deck also presented injury and fatality trends from 2013 through 2022. Heniser pointed to a general decline in injuries over the period, but he said fatalities remained comparatively steady outside the pandemic-related dip in 2020. He cited those trends while explaining the potential benefits of more proactive safety technology.
Heniser said districts can add AI camera systems to existing buses through aftermarket installations, while manufacturers may increasingly offer the technology on new vehicles.
Wenger cautioned that AI recognition remains imperfect and can produce false positives, but said timely warnings still offer safety benefits.
“It’s not perfect, but it’s extremely accurate,” he said.
Wenger also clarified that automated vehicle functions, such as braking, would require integration at the manufacturer level rather than a simple camera retrofit.
Starting With School District Safety Needs
Schweitzer encouraged transportation leaders to frame AI as a tool for protecting students, drivers and communities rather than employee surveillance.
“It’s not the big brother side of it,” he said.
Heniser advised districts to identify their most common safety challenges before selecting technology, whether those involve loading zones, blind spots or driver behavior.
“Really, it’s up to the fleet managers, fleet operators, drivers to identify where their most common problems are,” he concluded.
Heniser also emphasized that AI’s role in student transportation should remain focused on helping drivers create safer conditions, rather than replacing their judgement or student interaction.
“The goal overall is to create a safer environment while operating vehicles,” he summarized.
Electric bikes and electric scooters parked on a street in Columbus, Ohio. Lawmakers in Ohio and many other states have enacted or are considering tougher regulations for e-bikes and e-scooters as their popularity – and safety concerns – grow. (Photo by Megan Henry/Ohio Capital Journal).
Earlier this month, a 50-year-old man riding his personal electric scooter in Washington, D.C., was killed when he collided with a woman on a rideshare scooter.
In June, a 12-year-old Massachusetts girl died after her electric scooter slammed into a school bus in a suburb of Boston.
And in April, an Atlanta woman riding an electric bike was killed when she hit a curb and was thrown headfirst into a wall.
A string of high-profile deaths and injuries involving electric scooters and bikes is spurring states and cities across the country to crack down on them. As technology improves, e-scooters and e-bikes capable of motorcycle-like speeds have become cheaper and more popular. Some models — and the ability to modify them with aftermarket upgrades — are blurring the lines between bicycles, scooters and motor vehicles.
State and local regulations, many of which were originally written to manage the glut of low-speed rideshare scooters nearly a decade ago, haven’t kept pace, some experts say, and they’ve left city officials scrambling to do more.
The victim in the Washington, D.C., incident was Talib Shakir, who worked in the office of D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser. Police said neither Shakir nor the woman he collided with was wearing a helmet, and that Shakir’s e-scooter could reach speeds up to 55 miles per hour.
A few days later, D.C.’s Metropolitan Police launched a street safety initiative focused on educating e-bike and e-scooter riders about road safety.
In New York City, local leaders held a hearing in August to discuss a slate of new regulations for e-bikes and e-scooters. As of September, at least 28 New Yorkers riding electric devices have died in crashes, the city’s highest-ever total by that point in the year.
A month before the Massachusetts accident, Gov. Maura Healey proposed legislation to establish safety standards and other regulations for e-scooters and e-bikes.
Healey, a Democrat, called existing laws around so-called micromobility devices “unclear and inconsistent,” in a May 2026 statement announcing her bill, which is currently in committee.
“We are seeing too much reckless behavior, more crashes and close calls,” she said, “and too many people, especially pedestrians and young riders, are at risk.”
And after several highly publicized deaths in the Atlanta metro area, including the woman who died after she was thrown from her bike and a teen who died when his e-scooter collided with a tractor-trailer, local officials in surrounding communities have been under pressure to address safety issues.
States including Illinois, Michigan and Pennsylvania have enacted or considered new restrictions this year. The feds have been studying the issue, too: A report released earlier this year from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission found the number of fatalities from e-scooters and e-bikes has been steadily increasing.
Consumer Reports, a nonprofit that reviews consumer products, in August said it had tested 13 e-scooters and didn’t recommend any due to high speeds and an increase in injuries.
Despite the rush toward regulation, e-bike and e-scooter advocates and manufacturers say any new restrictions should distinguish between different types of devices that often get lumped under the umbrella of “e-bikes.” There’s a difference, they point out, between low-speed, motor-assisted bicycles and throttle-driven electric bikes that are essentially motorcycles.
They say states and cities should enforce tiered safety laws rather than outright banning high-speed personal vehicles, as lawmakers in states including New York and some municipalities have considered.
Most new research — as well as data from individual hospitals — shows that injuries and deaths from e-scooters and e-bikes are on the rise, particularly for children.
Johns Hopkins researchers found nearly half the e-scooter injuries they studied involving kids between 2020-2024 occurred in 2024.
“That was striking,” said the study’s author, Dr. Mary Beth Howard, a pediatric emergency medicine specialist at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center. “And, for us, it raises questions about safety policies keeping pace with the growth in e-scooter use.”
Skewing younger
One of the most significant — and surprising — takeaways from new research on e-scooter injuries was that children ages 11-14 have some of the highest injury rates, Howard said.
She and fellow researchers found nearly 1 in 4 e-scooter injuries in recent years happened to kids in that age group.
A few factors contribute to that overrepresentation, she said, including increasing access to e-scooters while kids’ motor skills and ability to assess danger are still developing.
And, too, they aren’t legally allowed to drive so they don’t have the experience older teens have in managing traffic and speed.
“That creates the perfect storm for that 11 to 14 or early adolescent group being at incredibly high risk for injuries from e-scooters,” she said.
In Oregon, a 13-year-old girl died last month while riding an electric scooter; police say she was struck by a van in a hit-and-run. And in Florida, two children have been injured in the past year after colliding with school buses in two separate incidents.
The Johns Hopkins researchers found that 1 in 10 kids were injured severely enough while riding e-scooters that they required hospitalization.
“That’s important for policymakers to understand,” Howard said. “This isn’t just scraped knees.”
States step in
A new Illinois law taking effect in January will bar anyone under 15 from riding an e-bike of any type, and requires riders of high-speed devices — those that can travel more than 28 miles per hour — to have a driver’s license, registration and insurance. It also prohibits high-speed e-bikes from sidewalks and regular bike lanes. New Jersey also recently enacted a law requiring e-bike riders to be licensed and registered.
Illinois state Sen. Ram Villivalam, a Democrat, sponsored the bill, saying in an August statement that “without clear regulations for these devices, we are seeing increased injuries and accidents — jeopardizing community safety.”
More than two dozen states and Washington, D.C., have enacted or amended e-scooter laws with minimum age requirements, speed limits and other restrictions, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
State lawmakers have been looking at ramping up the regulation in the face of injuries and pressure from physicians, law enforcement and safety groups.
This week, the Pennsylvania House approved a bill that would legalize and regulate e-scooters — it’s currently illegal in Pennsylvania to ride them on public streets, sidewalks and bike lanes — and would require riders to be at least 16. The bill also has speed limitations and helmet requirements. It next heads to the state Senate.
In Michigan, a Democratic-sponsored bill would require teens under 18 to have a license to ride e-bikes that can travel faster than 20 miles per hour. It would also set helmet requirements for teens; a companion bill would set new fines for certain e-bike violations. The bill comes after several towns in Michigan have banned or restricted e-bikes and other vehicles after crashes involving teens.
Earlier this month, Democratic state lawmakers in Ohio introduced legislation that would tighten existing state regulations on e-bikes and e-scooters, including banning children 13 and younger from operating them and requiring riders to wear helmets.
And in California, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed three new e-bike laws this month that set age limits and other restrictions.
This story was originally produced by Stateline, which is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network which includes Wisconsin Examiner, and is supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.
A new guide from Johns Hopkins University recommends 10 policy changes to reduce gun violence in Wisconsin, including three identified as potentially especially helpful for communities such as Milwaukee, where gun violence has been prevalent.
“The recommendations are intended to have statewide impact,” wrote Ethan Bartlett, assistant research and policy adviser at the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions and lead author of the guide, in an email to NNS.
“That being said, research suggests some recommendations may have a larger impact in certain areas than others, depending on factors such as community culture, demographics, rurality and differences in implementation.”
The Wisconsin guide is the seventh state-specific policy road map published by the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions, following guides for Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, Maryland and Maine.
Bartlett said researchers began by examining Wisconsin’s existing firearm laws to identify gaps.
“From there, we were guided by research evidence and identified evidence-based policies that would fill those gaps and ultimately work toward better outcomes for Wisconsin residents,” he said.
Bartlett said the guide is intended to help policymakers, local governments and organizations identify legislative changes that could reduce firearm deaths and injuries.
“We view gun violence as an epidemic-level public health emergency and saw an opportunity to create a product with the potential to be part of the solution,” he said.
Three recommendations he said may be especially significant for Milwaukee and other communities experiencing higher levels of interpersonal gun violence: establishing firearm purchaser licensing; licensing gun dealers; and providing sustainable funding for community violence intervention and prevention programs.
Current snapshot of Milwaukee gun violence
As of Oct. 8, Milwaukee had recorded 84 homicides and 325 nonfatal shootings, compared with 108 homicides and 425 nonfatal shootings during the same period in 2025, according to the Milwaukee Police Department’s crime dashboard. Both categories declined over 20% compared with the same period last year.
In 2025, the city recorded 142 homicides and 516 nonfatal shootings, compared with 132 homicides and 639 nonfatal shootings in 2024.
Bartlett emphasized that firearm homicides represent only one aspect of gun violence.
“Firearm suicides represent the largest portion of firearm fatalities, and there are more firearm injuries annually than firearm homicides and suicides combined in Wisconsin,” he said.
In July, NNS reported firearms were involved in the majority of suicides in Milwaukee County in 2025.
“All forms should be taken into consideration when discussing ways to mitigate gun violence,” Bartlett said.
Here is a breakdown of the three strategies Bartlett highlighted for communities like Milwaukee.
Firearm purchaser licensing
Rifles are displayed at Ron Martin’s booth at the Badger Military Collectible Show in Waukesha in 2016. (Coburn Dukehart / Wisconsin Watch)
The first recommendation calls for a requirement that prospective firearm buyers obtain a license before purchasing a gun.
Wisconsin does not require firearm purchasers to obtain a license, according to the guide.
Johns Hopkins recommends requiring prospective purchasers to complete firearm safety training, including live-fire instruction, submitting fingerprints, a comprehensive background check and an in-person application process.
The guide states that purchaser licensing laws were associated with an 11% reduction in firearm homicides in 136 large urban counties between 1984 and 2015.
The requirements could strengthen background checks and help prevent firearms from reaching people legally prohibited from possessing them, according to the guide.
Milwaukee County Supervisor Justin Bielinski broadly supports the recommendations, but he raised concerns about purchaser licensing.
Bielinski said firearm purchaser licensing requirements could disproportionately affect lower-income residents and people of color, particularly those living in heavily policed communities.
Gun dealer licensing
Another recommendation is for Wisconsin to establish licensing requirements for firearm dealers – on top of existing federal requirements.
Wisconsin does not currently require a separate state firearm dealer license, according to the guide.
Johns Hopkins recommends statewide licensing that includes recordkeeping, security measures and inspections to strengthen oversight of firearm sales.
The guide cites research finding that strong state firearm dealer regulations, including licensing and inspections, were associated with a 64% reduction in firearm trafficking within states.
The report highlighted federal data showing authorities recovered and traced 8,841 firearms in Wisconsin in 2023, including 3,781 in Milwaukee.
Bridget Whitaker is executive director of Safe & Sound, a Milwaukee-based nonprofit focused on community safety and violence prevention. She said the firearm purchaser licensing and gun dealer licensing speak to the accountability and responsible access to firearms.
“I think there’s value in creating stronger safeguards to help prevent firearms from getting into the wrong hands,” Whitaker said. “This is so important when we consider how quickly a disagreement, an impulsive decision or an unresolved conflict can become a tragedy when a firearm is involved.”
Sustainable funding of community violence intervention
Members of 414LIFE distribute information during a community popup on Milwaukee’s North Side. (Edgar Mendez / Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service)
Whitaker said the recommendation that resonates most with her is for sustainable investment in community violence intervention and prevention.
Milwaukee already has several local efforts, including Safe & Sound, the 414LIFE violence interruption program and other initiatives coordinated by the city’s Department of Community Wellness and Safety.
Johns Hopkins researchers recommend sustained funding for anti-violence programs and a formal establishment of Wisconsin’s Office of Violence Prevention in state law, which could provide more stable state support for local violence prevention efforts.
“Too often – especially this year – nonprofits are charged to produce long-term outcomes with short-term funding,” Whitaker said. “We are asking organizations to build trust and maintain consistent relationships in neighborhoods while providing funding that may only last a year. Trust doesn’t operate on a grant cycle.”
Gov. Tony Evers’ actions
Bielinski said state lawmakers would need to push for most of the guide’s recommendations.
“Most of the reforms in the Hopkins report have to be initiated at the state level,” he said.
NNS reached out to Gov. Tony Evers about the three recommendations. Britt Cudaback, communications director for Evers, pointed to the governor’s previous budget proposals and calls for special legislative sessions and federal funding investments for violence prevention.
Evers created the Wisconsin Office of Violence Prevention – by way of an executive order in January 2025. The office was initially supported by $10 million in federal funding, and Evers proposed making the office permanent through his 2025-27 budget.
However, the proposal was not included in the final budget.
In 2022, the Evers administration directed $8.4 million in federal funding to Milwaukee’s violence prevention efforts.
He also has called for universal background checks and an extreme risk protection order law, which would allow courts to temporarily restrict access to firearms for people who pose a serious risk of harming themselves or others.
Bielinski questioned whether Milwaukee County could expand its violence prevention programs from a financial perspective.
“Funding-related measures, like hiring more violence interruptors, credible messengers, etc., are highly unrealistic given current budgetary circumstances,” he said.
A spokesperson for the Wisconsin Department of Administration, which oversees the state’s Office of Violence Prevention, also emphasized the need for sustained funding.
“The greatest impact, from the (Office of Violence Prevention) perspective, is continued sustainable, reliable and flexible funding for violence prevention in Milwaukee and across the state,” the spokesperson said.
Whitaker said the guide’s recommendations “reflect something those of us working in neighborhoods have understood for a long time: Reducing violence requires a comprehensive approach.”
More recommendations
(Graphic provided by Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions at the Bloomberg School of Public Health)
The other recommendations in the Johns Hopkins guide are:
Strengthening firearm storage requirements
Strengthening protections against domestic violence involving firearms
Establishing an extreme risk protection order law
Expanding restrictions on firearm purchases and possession
Prohibiting large-capacity ammunition magazines
Strengthening requirements for carrying firearms in public
Requiring gun owners to report lost or stolen firearms
Jonathan Aguilar is a visual journalist at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service who is supported through a partnership betweenCatchLight LocalandReport for America.
National School Bus Safety Week is October 19 through 23, 2026, and Verra Mobility is providing a free toolkit with ready-to-use resources that schools, school districts, and community organizations can share this week and throughout the year. The milestone offers an opportunity for schools, transportation professionals, families, students, and drivers to reinforce the everyday actions that help keep children safe on and around school buses.
While illegal school bus passing is declining, too many children remain at risk. The National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services estimates that 38.4 million illegal school bus passings occurred during the 2025-2026 school year, down from 39.3 million the previous year and 45.2 million two years earlier. The numbers represent an approximately 15% decline over two years.
Even with this improvement, drivers illegally pass stopped school buses an estimated 213,800 times on a typical school day. Parents and caregivers see the danger firsthand: 37% say they have witnessed an illegal school bus passing, and 33% have seen a near miss near a stopped school bus.
The toolkit makes it easier to share clear, consistent school bus safety information with families, staff, and the broader community. Resources include:
Social media copy and graphics that raise awareness of illegal passing and safe driving around school buses.
Educational content for websites, newsletters, and family communications.
Materials in the linked toolkit are Copyright 2026 Verra Mobility Corporation. All rights reserved. Schools, school boards, and non-profit organizations are licensed to copy, redistribute, reproduce, copy, and adapt materials in the toolkit for the sole purposes of safety messaging.
Raising awareness is an important part of school bus safety, but it must be reinforced through the choices we make every day. Whether behind the wheel, accompanying a child to the bus stop, or riding the bus, everyone has a role in helping students travel safely. Keep these reminders in mind during National School Bus Safety Week and throughout the school year.
Drivers:
Come to a complete stop when a school bus displays flashing red lights and extends its stop arm, as required by state law.
Remain stopped until the red lights turn off, the stop arm retracts, and the bus begins moving.
Slow down, stay alert, and eliminate distractions near school buses, bus stops, and school zones.
Parents and Caregivers:
Arrive at the bus stop at least five minutes before the scheduled pickup.
Teach children to wait at least 10 feet, or five giant steps, away from the road.
Remind children never to walk behind a school bus and to wait for the bus driver’s signal before crossing.
Tell children to alert the driver if they drop something near the bus instead of retrieving it themselves.
Students:
Wait until the bus stops completely and the door opens before approaching.
Stay where the bus driver can see you.
Look left, right and left again before crossing the street.
Cross at least 10 feet in front of the bus, never directly in front of or behind it.
Education is essential, but communities also need tools that reinforce traffic laws and hold dangerous drivers accountable. At Verra Mobility, we go beyond raising awareness; we prioritize making a lasting difference in communities. Our school bus stop arm technology not only holds violators accountable, but it also changes driver behavior.
Across Verra Mobility programs, 98% of drivers cited for illegally passing a stopped school bus did not repeat the offense. Programs also saw an average 67% decline in stop-arm citations from the beginning to the end of the 2024-2025 school year.
LOS ANGELES, Calif. —HopSkipDrive, the leader in safe, fast, and simple supplemental student transportation, today highlighted the ongoing work of its Safety Advisory Council (SAC), an independent group of experts who advise the company on the safety of riders, drivers, and clients. Since forming in May 2025, the council has met regularly, most recently at a hands-on, workshop-style session in Denver. That session produced a draft safety framework that sharpens HopSkipDrive policies and is moving into product development.
The council brings together specialists across child passenger safety, road safety, human trafficking prevention, K-12 mental health, and transportation consulting, alongside members with lived experience as crash survivors. Their guidance shapes work ranging from in-vehicle recording and rider verification to how HopSkipDrive supports students with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs), youth in foster care, and students experiencing homelessness.
“HopSkipDrive is built with students’ safety at the center of what we do. Safety is the reason we started the company, and having outside experts in the room has already changed how we build,” said Joanna McFarland, Co-Founder and CEO of HopSkipDrive.”We didn’t get to better rider verification, or the policy ground we’ve gained, without them. Their questions get us there faster than we ever could alone.”
Over a Year of Concrete Progress
Over the past year, HopSkipDrive has moved several council-informed initiatives from concept to practice, including:
● Ride Recording: In-App, part of CareEngine, captures audio and video on every eligible ride, encrypted and available to districts through RideIQ. CareDrivers never see the footage, and the program runs under a formal consent and retention framework.
● A council-informed push to strengthen rider verification beyond the traditional spoken code word, with new ways to confirm the right rider is getting into the right vehicle.
● Continued investment in structured rider and IEP data, replacing open-text notes with consistent, actionable detail so CareDrivers can better support each rider’s needs.
● Policy engagement that helps raise industry-wide screening and accountability standards while preserving specialized safeguards for child transportation, backed by continued monitoring of state and federal legislation that affects how districts get students to school safely.
“We’re in the room while frameworks are still being drafted, and that gives our feedback more weight than a sign-off at the end,” said Steve Nederveld, a former school-district director of mental health services and Safety Advisory Council member. “That’s a different kind of access, and it means the guidance actually lands somewhere.”
“What’s stood out to me this year is how early we were brought in — not after a policy or product is finalized, but while it’s still being shaped. In my work on youth safety and abuse prevention, I’ve seen how much stronger rider verification and behavior-support protocols become when that expertise is part of the conversation from the start. There’s real momentum here, and I’m looking forward to seeing it translate into even more concrete protections for kids. I honestly believe that HopSkipDrive’s thoughtful and comprehensive focus on rider safety should elevate the bar for all ride sharing,” said Shael Norris, Founding Executive Director of SafeBAE and Safety Advisory Council member.
A New Voice on the Safety Advisory Council
HopSkipDrive also welcomed Kyndra Webb of the National Safety Council, who brings expertise in child passenger safety, as the newest member of the Safety Advisory Council.
“My first HopSkipDrive Safety Advisory Council meeting was an engaging and mission-driven conversation focused on one shared goal: ensuring safe, inclusive transportation for every student, including those with specific transportation needs. I valued the collaborative dialogue and the opportunity for every council member to contribute to solutions that put student safety first,” said Webb.
What’s Ahead
Through the rest of the 2026-27 school year, HopSkipDrive and the council are developing a new framework for responding to rider behavior. The goal is that a behavior concern leads to added support rather than a lost ride, keeping students on the platform wherever it is safe to do so. The company is also expanding investment in tools that make it easier for riders who cannot easily advocate for themselves to report a concern.
The council’s role has shifted from advisory to structural. Its input is now built into how HopSkipDrive develops safety policy and product, and that shift will shape the next phase of the company’s safety work.
HopSkipDrive continues to arrange and coordinate rides for students with disabilities, youth in foster care, and students experiencing homelessness under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act. The company’s safety record across these rides is detailed in its annual Safety Report, and its investment in vetting, technology, and council-informed policy is designed to reduce risk at every stage of the ride.
About HopSkipDrive
HopSkipDrive is the leader in safe, fast, and simple supplemental student transportation. The company is modernizing the $30 billion school transportation industry through two core solutions: a care-centered transportation marketplace and an industry-leading transportation intelligence platform, RouteWise AI. HopSkipDrive’s marketplace supplements school buses and existing transportation options by connecting kids to highly-vetted caregivers on wheels, such as grandparents, babysitters, and nurses in local communities. RouteWise AI helps schools and districts address critical challenges, including budget cuts, bus driver shortages, and reaching climate goals. HopSkipDrive has supported over 14,500 schools across two dozen states, with over 2,000 school districts, government agencies, and nonprofit partners. Millions of rides across 130 million miles have been completed through HopSkipDrive since the company was founded in 2014 by three working mothers.
The Door County Jail is operating under emergency staffing rules, effective Oct. 8, with 16 employees currently working in the jail when 22 are needed to cover shifts safely and effectively, Sheriff Tammy Sternard said.
Emergency staffing procedures will continue until enough staff are hired and trained to run the jail effectively, she said.
The jail staffing shortage has been an ongoing issue before reaching the most recent point, and it contributed to heavy overtime costs and declining morale among jail staff, according to the Door County Deputy Sheriff’s Association. The association cited those problems, among other concerns unrelated to the jail, in its June vote of no confidence in Sternard.
A vote of no confidence is a significant step for a union association, according to experts in labor relations. Such votes are often a last resort when efforts to address workplace concerns have failed, said Jim Palmer, president of the Wisconsin Professional Police Association, which represents more than 300 law enforcement unions statewide.
Sternard disputed the association’s depiction of her leadership and said she and county administration have been trying to recruit more staff and reduce overtime and workload pressure in the jail.
The association’s resolution cited ongoing staffing shortages, a two-male minimum staffing policy, excessive overtime, and a general lack of support as conditions contributing to a general loss of trust in Sternard as sheriff.
How serious is the jail problem?
While 22 employees is the minimum number of filled positions needed for safe and effective jail operations, 24 employees in the jail are optimal for reducing overtime and workloads, Sternard stated in staffing reports from 2023 to 2025.
The county has authorized 26 positions in the jail, including a jail lieutenant, three sergeants, 19 full-time deputies, two court security deputies and one administrative assistant.
With the jail currently under emergency staffing rules, the sheriff is allowed to go outside the bargaining unit contract to make sure the jail is staffed adequately. This means she does not have to abide by specific rules in the contract regarding how overtime is assigned and other staffing procedures.
During the week of Oct. 8, Sternard met with union and jail division representatives to discuss actions related to the emergency staffing situation, she said.
The temporary plan is to allow non-security deputies to work overtime shifts in the jail under specific conditions and operational needs during the declared emergency schedule, she said.
Chief Deputy Kyle Veeser, Sternard’s current second-in-command in the Sheriff’s Office, was the jail lieutenant from 2019 until previous Chief Deputy Pat McCarty retired in 2025. Veeser has worked for the Sheriff’s Office for about 20 years. The jail has not been fully staffed since 2019, but this is the worst shape it has been in, Veeser said.
When there are staff or shift vacancies, existing jail deputies are given overtime. The highest overtime spending for all state employees is in corrections – 67% of all the overtime in the state was spent on the Department of Corrections in 2024.
County jails collect data separately from the state system, and Door County shows high numbers of overtime hours and spending over the last few years.
In Door County, from January 2023 to Sept. 30, 2026, there were 14,937.75 hours of jail staff overtime, totaling $737,192.35 in costs.
The Door County Jail requires a minimum of four deputies working at all times, and the jail uses an 8-hour overlapping shift schedule, according to sheriff staffing reports. Due to current staffing levels, any time one individual is off for any reason, it creates overtime.
Corrections jobs are hard to fill and to keep filled. Wisconsin state corrections facilities had an 11% turnover rate in 2024, according to Safe Inside, a national project focused on corrections research.
Twenty-nine security deputies either retired or resigned from the Door County Jail between January 2023 and Sept. 30, 2026, according to staffing reports. Of the 29, five retired. Of those who resigned, 12 cited overtime hours as the reason, and 13 cited working shift hours/time away from family. Resigning security deputies were allowed to choose more than one reason for leaving in exit surveys, according to the report.
Three of the resigning deputies cited a “negative work environment” as one of their reported reasons for leaving.
Not only have overtime needs increased, but changes in the jail environment have increased the workload, Sternard wrote in her 2025 report. Inmate mental health issues and alcohol and/or drug withdrawals are to blame, she said, as both scenarios require more one-on-one staff attention, leaving remaining staff to deal with a larger number of inmates than they should be.
The number of incarcerated people in Door County with mental health and/or substance use disorders has increased in the last decade, even as the number of incarcerated people overall has not significantly changed.
In consultant interviews with jail deputies in 2019, 100% said they frequently interact with people with mental health concerns and with substance abuse concerns.
By comparison, 85% of patrol deputies told consultants they frequently interact with people with mental health concerns, and 82% said the same for people with substance abuse concerns.
Another factor that contributes to high overtime and low morale, according to the vote of no-confidence resolution, is a two-male minimum policy in place at the Door County Jail. Male officers are required on every shift, regardless of overall staffing numbers, and vacancies or absences can lead to overtime just to reach the minimum.
Wisconsin statute requires at least one person on duty of the same sex as incarcerated people who is responsible for the “custody, cleanliness, food and care” of inmates.
Door County has enforced a stricter local policy that there must be two male officers on duty at any given time, a measure to ensure better safety for jail employees and inmates, according to Sternard. Male inmates almost always substantially outnumber female inmates, she added.
What has been tried, and what has not
The county has tried to solve its staffing shortage and excessive overtime with various approaches, according to County Corporation Counsel Sean Donohue. Some of them have been accepted by the association, while others have not.
According to staffing reports, Sternard and county administration have made attempts to reduce the overtime burden and workload, including by adding one more authorized full-time deputy position last year and eliminating part-time positions as they became more difficult to fill.
Most recently, county leadership and Sternard implemented a rotating overtime system so it was not all falling on the deputies with less seniority, Donohue said.
More senior deputies had the ability to refuse overtime, he said, and it kept falling on the more junior members of the jail staff.
“They were receiving so much overtime, they were burning out,” according to Donohue.
Recommendations to move jail staff to a 12-hour shift schedule have been made several times over the years, according to staffing reports. A $40,000 staffing and operations analysis by McGrath Consulting Group was conducted in 2020. The study also recommended the 12-hour shift schedule.
“It (would have) allowed for better staffing and work-life balance,” Donohue said. “It was not a big cost savings to the county, rather it was an expense. But the union did not want it.”
With a 12-hour schedule, called a Pitman Schedule, employees work two or three days and then have two or three days off. The schedule proposed for Door County would allow employees to have an average of 15 days off each month, versus eight days in a typical schedule. Currently, most Sheriff’s Office employees work a regular eight-hour shift schedule with six days on and three days off.
A 12-hour schedule has become the norm in many jails, Veeser said.
The union has consistently rejected a 12-hour shift schedule, including during the most recent collective bargaining process. Union representatives did not respond to requests for comment on this issue.
The process for the 2025-27 contract between union members and the county went into mediation, conducted by James Daley, then-chairman of the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission. Each side had issues they wanted incorporated into the collective bargaining agreement that the other objected to, Donohue said.
One of those issues was the 12-hour shift schedule, but it did not trigger the back-and-forth negotiations leading to mediation, he added, and the major issue was wages.
Lack of support?
Part of the union’s criticism of Sternard was an allegation that her response was dismissive of staff concerns about excessive overtime and declining morale. The resolution stated Sternard had responded to concerns raised in meetings by saying that morale was “their problem.”
Sternard said she doesn’t recall ever saying it’s “their problem,” and conversations she has about morale are more complex than a single comment.
“We all get to choose what kind of attitude we want, and if we’re going to get stuck in other people’s drama,” she said during an Oct. 6 interview. “If coming here is bad everyday, then maybe it’s not for you, and that is part of a bigger discussion.”
“I believe morale is a shared responsibility,” she wrote in a follow-up email to Knock. “Each of us has to take responsibility for our own morale and attitude, as well as contribute to the morale of our team.”
Sternard said she checks in with division leaders every week during meetings to ask about morale and concerns. If there are situations affecting morale, Sternard said she addresses them and works with her staff to find solutions.
A last resort
Although the Wisconsin Professional Police Association does not work directly with the Door County Sheriff Deputies’ Association, Palmer said votes of no-confidence come up frequently with unions.
The organization has only actually endorsed a no-confidence effort on two occasions, Palmer said, because such a vote rarely achieves its goal — changing a leader’s conduct — unless it’s part of a broader strategy.
A vote of no-confidence is often a tool of last resort for a union, when other attempts to raise issues have not been successful, he said.
Votes of no-confidence are used to express a collective view that individual officers might not feel comfortable expressing, Palmer added.
“Retaliation is one of the reasons an organization like ours exists,” he said.
Don Taylor is a department chair and professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s School for Workers and said there is a difference between public and private sector labor unions.
“Police officers work in a very different environment and context than factory workers, nurses or teachers,” he said. “When faced with a group of workers who’s unhappy with a member of management, there are things that factory workers may do that are very different from what police may do. Police aren’t going to walk off the job or have a picket line.”
Local government employees are prohibited from striking by Wisconsin state law.
The Door County Justice Center sign by the roadway, as seen on Oct. 13, 2026. (Heidi Hodges / Door County Knock)
All regular full-time and part-time employees within the Sheriff’s Office are represented by the union, according to collective bargaining agreements. The sheriff, chief deputy, captains, lieutenants, confidential clerical, executive, managerial and supervisor employees, and general municipal employees do not receive union representation.
That does not mean every member participates regularly in union activities or took part in the vote of no-confidence. Sheriff candidate Curt Vandertie has said he has not been active in the association for several years.
Additionally there are no hard and fast rules governing how a union may take such a vote, according to Taylor and Palmer.
Knock reached out to the Deputies Association for information about how many members participated in the vote. The association’s legal counsel, Tom Sucevic, replied that the association is “not going to be speaking on the no confidence vote beyond what was published.”
Responding to speculation that vote timing was intended to influence the sheriff race, Taylor said using a vote of no-confidence that way makes sense to him and the focus should still be the union’s concerns.
“To dismiss it as electorally motivated leaves unanswered the question, ‘why?’” he said.
“Maybe they’re just so mad about the workplace relationship that they’re not even thinking about the election,” Taylor said. “But I would be very surprised if it’s not at least a significant factor because that’s what public sector employees do. It’s an incredibly obvious route of address for public sector workers.”
One way to ensure a vote of no-confidence is successful, Palmer said, is to document prior efforts to change leadership conduct or the work environment.
“Its not uncommon for a deputy to express a view to the chief or sheriff in passing, in the hallway,” Palmer said. “We try to remind groups, just like you have to build a record with your police work, you have to memorialize efforts to improve your work environment so you can point to it.”
According to the results of Knock’s open records request to the Sheriff’s Office, there are no formal complaints or documentation of the issues cited by the union in its no-confidence resolution.
Since the resolution was publicized, Sternard said, she and county administration have reached out to union leadership and offered communication and mediation, and the union rejected the overture. Association representatives did not respond to requests for comment on this issue.
“We responded to try to work on things, and now they want to put it to rest,” she said.
Sternard also said her immediate priority and responsibility is to staff the jail.
“I’m going to do what I can right now from within. I’ll do what I can to help,” she said, referring to those efforts. “I remain hopeful for anyone who sits in this chair after November 3rd.”
A version of this story was originally published by Door County Knock, an independent, nonprofit news organization covering Door County, Wisconsin. Subscribe to its newsletters here.
The National Association for Pupil Transportation (NAPT) is using National School Bus Safety Week to look toward next year’s safety campaign, announcing “Safe Miles = Big Smiles” as the theme of the 2027 National School Bus Safety Poster Contest.
The announcement Tuesday, during the Oct. 19-23 national observance, calls on students to illustrate what safe school bus transportation means to them and how everyday choices contribute to safer rides.
NAPT encouraged school transportation departments to involve educators and students in the contest, using student-created artwork to reinforce safety messages in classrooms and communities.
“School bus safety doesn’t begin or end at the bus stop,” NAPT said in its announcement, describing safety as a shared commitment among families, schools and transportation professionals.
National School Bus Safety Week, celebrated the third full week each October, aims to bring students, parents, motorists, school transportation employees and educators together around safe behavior on and around school buses.
The national poster competition begins at the local and state levels, where students develop original posters illustrating the designated theme. State-winning entries advance to national judging, and the overall winner’s artwork becomes a centerpiece of the following year’s National School Bus Safety Week campaign.
The new theme is separate from the 2026 National School Bus Safety Week message, “Safe Rides, Everyday Heroes,” which highlights the people and practices involved in transporting students safely.
This year’s featured poster was designed by Sai Darshana Yekolu, a sixth grader at Moseley Middle School in Prosper, Texas. Yekolu was named the overall national winner of the 2026 contest after advancing through state competition.
Judges representing NAPT, the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services and the National School Transportation Association evaluated entries for their safety messages, originality, artistic quality and visual effectiveness.
The winning design is being shared nationally, including throughout the October issue of NAPT’s School BUSRide publication and by state pupil transportation officials, schools and transportation departments.
The contest also gives transportation departments another way to engage students in safety education beyond traditional reminders. NAPT is asking districts to encourage teachers and students to depict how decisions made at home, at school and along bus routes can contribute to safer trips.
NAPT previously said the 2027 contest drawing period was expected to begin in November, with timing intended to accommodate differing school calendars across North America.
NAPT directed districts to its updated 2027 contest guidelines and a printable version of Yekolu’s winning poster. Additional contest resources are available online.
REDWOOD CITY, Calif., — Zūm, a leader in student mobility, is recognizing National School Bus Safety Week (Oct. 19-23) by announcing an update to its driver training curriculum designed to support the safety, well-being and individual needs of all students and recognizing drivers with outstanding safety records.
“Safety is more than what happens while the bus is moving. It starts before a driver leaves the yard and continues through every pickup, ride and drop-off,” said Ritu Narayan, founder and CEO of Zum. “School bus drivers are the heart of our operation and the ‘everyday heroes’ we depend on to deliver our children to school safely and set them up for a successful day of learning.”
‘Safe Rides, Everyday Heroes’
This week Zum is honoring drivers with celebrations at its bus yards nationwide and by acknowledging drivers who set the standard for safety. The theme of this year’s events is “Safe Rides, Everyday Heroes.”
Zum also announced an expansion of its SPED Safe driver training course that now requires all drivers to complete a training module devoted to “Supporting Students with Autism on the Bus.” Developed with industry-leading safety experts as well as Zum’s in-house team of state-certified trainers, SPED Safe equips drivers with evidence-based strategies to support the safety, well-being, and individual needs of all students, including students with disabilities.
Zum drivers receive comprehensive training that meets or exceeds county and state requirements, along with real-time feedback on their driving performance. Zum requires drivers to follow strict safety protocols, including completing a Daily Vehicle Inspection Report (DVIR) before and after each trip. Each driver also has a GPS-enabled tablet that provides real-time route updates, information about individual student needs and easy-to-use incident reporting tools.
Zum CMX: Prioritizing Student Safety
Zum also enables student safety through its AI-powered Connected Mobility Experience (CMX) platform. Zum CMX connects routing, dispatch, drivers, schools, families, safety and operations in real time, helping districts improve reliability, optimize resources and provide families with greater visibility.
Zum CMX enables transportation systems to move from uncertainty and disruption to coordinated, predictable execution — keeping student safety at the forefront.
Real-time visibility: Zum CMX provides real-time, map-based ride tracking, AI-powered arrival time estimates, and rider verification for every trip. This shared visibility reduces uncertainty, ensures that all stakeholders have access to the same information and enables coordinated action across the system.
Reliability driven by AI coordination: Zum CMX coordinates routing, dispatch, and execution based on real-time conditions. AI-powered systems are designed to continuously update routes, identify emerging issues such as road closures or traffic, and resolve disruptions before they cascade. Instead of reactive problem-solving, transportation teams can proactively manage their systems to improve reliability and reduce delays.
Transparency for families: The Zum App allows parents to see real-time information about vehicle location and their child’s pickup or dropoff status, along with a profile of their child’s driver, to give them peace of mind every step of the way.
“At Zum, student safety is our highest priority, before, during and after every ride,” said Ritu Narayan, Founder and CEO of Zum. “We believe the school bus is the on-ramp to learning. By providing safe, reliable student mobility, we help students access education and start their school day on the right foot, while giving families greater transparency and peace of mind throughout their child’s journey to and from school.”
Today, Zum supports more than 7,500 schools across 19 states. To learn more about how Zum is leading the nation in redefining student mobility, visit www.ridezum.com.
TRENTON, N.J. — National School Bus Safety Week (NSBSW), Oct. 19-23, 2026, is a week that serves as a reminder that every school day, millions of students rely on the yellow school bus to get them safely to and from school, making it the largest form of mass transit in North America, while remaining the safest form of student transportation. However, illegal passing of stopped school buses and distracted driving continue to pose serious risks to students as they travel to and from school.
Each year, the National School Transportation Association (NSTA) proudly participates in NSBSW, and we recognize the dedication of school bus drivers, bus monitors, transportation staff, teachers and students in their ongoing efforts to ensure the iconic yellow school bus remains the safest mode of transportation to and from school each and every year.
NSTA members are invited to participate and spread the message of NSBSW across our communities and sharing the social media graphics provided, by clicking here. We encourage you to download the graphics and add your company’s logo when you share them on your social media platforms.
Additionally, NSTA is encouraging members to continue to share the Public Service Announcement (PSA) featuring former NFL standout Lomas Brown. The PSA reminds motorists to slow down, stay alert around school buses, and obey the laws designed to protect students. His message is simple and powerful: “When The Red Lights Are Flashing, No Passing.”
There is no expiration date on the use of these materials, allowing you to continue promoting this important safety message throughout the 2026-27 school year.
Finally, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has developed school bus safety marketing materials. To view and download NHTSA’s school bus safety campaign material, please click here.
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.
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.”
National School Bus Safety Week each October is another opportunity to remind motorists about the tremendous responsibility we all share around school buses and school children.
Stop for the red lights. Obey the stop arm. Slow down in school zones. Watch for children at bus stops and when crossing streets. We know the messages. But knowing what to do matters only if we are paying enough attention to recognize when we need to do it.
That is especially relevant this month. We examine the rapidly advancing collision-avoidance technology reaching school buses. Automatic braking, lane-related warnings, connected vehicle technology, cameras and other systems are increasingly capable of recognizing hazards, alerting drivers and, in some cases, reacting faster than a human can.
Similar technology is commonplace in our personal vehicles. My car can warn me if I drift from my lane or get too close to another vehicle. Other vehicles can automatically brake when their systems detect an impending collision.
All of that is remarkable and welcome. We also need to do more to avoid collisions the
old-fashioned, human way: Pay attention.
Working remotely has changed some of my own habits. Without a traditional commute to and from an office, I find myself conducting more conversations with work associates while driving to appointments, picking up the kids or running errands. Even before remote work became commonplace, I frequently spoke with school transportation professionals during their morning or afternoon commutes.
It feels productive. Why waste 20 or 30 minutes in the car when we can knock out a conversation? Because our attention has limits, that’s why.
Earlier this year at STN EXPO East, speaker Bret Brooks spoke about the difference between being careless and caring less. Being careless means failing to give something the attention it deserves. Caring less can be intentional. Sometimes we need to give less attention to things that aren’t as important at a particular moment so we can devote more attention to what is.
Behind the wheel is a great place to put that into practice. That work call might be important. The meeting might be approaching. The conversation might save some time later. But none of it is more important than what is happening outside the windshield.
April is Distracted Driving Awareness Month, but we can’t wait until then to practice mindfulness. Distracted driving needs to be top of mind every month, week, day, hour, minute and second of the year, especially in school zones and wherever school buses are loading and unloading children.
A Governors Highway Safety Association survey STN reported on last month found that 46 percent of parents whose children ride school buses said their child had experienced a close call involving dangerous driving near a school bus or in a school zone. Across all surveyed parents, 36 percent reported such an experience involving their own child. Distracted driving and speeding were among the dangerous behaviors reported.
Those numbers demand our attention. Certainly, if we take a call while driving, hands-free should be the minimum. Don’t hold the phone. And there is absolutely no justification for reading or sending texts, checking email or scrolling while you are operating a vehicle.
But hands-free does not mean distraction-free. A conversation can occupy our thoughts. So can drowsiness, passengers, food, navigation systems, vehicle controls or simply mentally working through the next deadline or problem. Even other traffic on the road.
Meanwhile, a school bus may be stopping ahead. A child may be approaching a crosswalk. Traffic may suddenly slow. Vehicle-to-everything technology promises to alert motorists when they come upon a school bus stop. The technology is impressive but still in it’s infancy, as it is only available in a figurative handful of vehicles. It will take decades for all vehicles on the road to communicate with each other and road infrastructure.
One of the most important observations this month comes from Rosalyn Vann-Jackson of Broken Arrow Public Schools in Oklahoma. She notes that the safest technology isn’t necessarily technology that removes the human from the equation. It’s technology that helps the human make a safer decision sooner.
Let’s continue developing and adopting technology that gives motorists and school transportation operators another layer of protection on the road. But we cannot surrender our own first line of collision avoidance in the process.
Editor’s Note: As reprinted from the October 2026 issue of School Transportation News.
NEW YORK, NY — The New York Association for Pupil Transportation (NYAPT) announced today that they will be holding Operation Safe Stop events around the state. The annual event helps promote school bus safety and educates the public about the dangers of illegally passing a stopped school bus with flashing red lights.
“Stop on red, our kids are ahead – that’s the Operation Safe Stop motto,” said David Christopher, Executive Director of NYAPT. “While the main focus is to remind drivers to stop for stopped school buses so we can keep our school children safe, it is important to note that law enforcement across the state will be out in force following yellow school buses and issuing tickets to those drivers who violate the law.”
This year’s Operation Safe Stop takes place Wednesday, October 21, 2026. It is a cooperative educational and enforcement project supported by NYAPT along with the New York State Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee, the New York State Education Department, the New York State School Bus Contractors Association, New York State Bus Distributors Association, the student transportation industry and state, county, city, and local law enforcement agencies.
“The illegal passing of stopped school buses is one of the major safety issues that our school bus drivers and students face on the ride to and from school daily,” said John Spacht, President of NYAPT. “We ask the public to avoid distractions while driving, be aware that school buses are on our roadways, and to stop when they see the red lights flashing on a school bus. A child’s life depends on motorists to drive carefully and do the right thing and stop for the bus.”
New York State Vehicle and Traffic Law requires all vehicles to come to a complete stop when approaching a stopped school bus with red lights flashing. Those lights indicate that a child is either boarding or disembarking a school bus. New York State law prohibits passing a school bus that is stopped with its red lights flashing, regardless of the direction of travel, even on a multi-lane or divided highway.
NYAPT Operation Safe Stop Committee Chair, Jasen Hibbart, Chenango Valley Central School District, urges motorists to look out for our children, “Our children shouldn’t have to worry about motorists illegally passing a stopped school bus. Slow down and watch for school buses and children. Stop when you see the red lights.”
Law enforcement will follow buses, looking for illegal passings. Penalties for a first-time offense of illegally passing a school bus include a fine of $250 to $400, five points on your driver’s license, and the possibility of up to 30 days in jail. A second conviction within three years may result in a fine of $600 to $750, five points on your license, and up to 180 days in jail. Three or more convictions will result in a fine of $750 to $1,500, 5 points on your license, and up to 180 days in jail.
Additionally, for those school districts and municipalities that choose to use automatic ticketing stop arm cameras on school buses, state law allows fines to be levied on the owner of any vehicle that illegally passes a stopped school bus, beginning at $250 for a first violation and up to $300 for subsequent violations.
NYAPT also noted that the 2.3 million children who ride school buses in New York State are driven by qualified and well-trained school bus drivers on routes carefully planned for safety, on buses that are maintained at the highest safety standards, and that school transportation officials are doing their best to keep students safe when they are on or near a school bus.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, students are 70 times safer riding a school bus to school than in a private car. See www.nhtsa.gov
The list below represents NYAPT chapters that are holding Operation Safe Stop Day public awareness events across the state on October 21, 2026.
Capital Region: Shaker Road/Loudonville
Fire Department 550 Albany Shaker Road
9:30 AM
Contact: Jerry Keenan
Rochester Area: Henrietta Fire Station #6
60 Erie Station Road Henrietta, NY
9:30 AM
Contact: David Richardson
Central New York Area: Lafayette Central School District
Transportation Department 5955 US 20 Lafayette, NY
10:30 AM
Contact: Christine Finch
Buffalo Area: Springville Central School District Transportation Department
369 North Street Springville, NY
10:30 AM
Contact: Eric Nagel
Suffolk County: Patchogue-Medford School District
Saxton Middle School 121 Saxton Street Patchogue, NY
11:00 AM
Contact: John Ryan
Amid National School Bus Safety Week, teaching young students how to safely navigate the school bus routine is an important part of early childhood education. Gregory Nichols hopes to support those efforts through his children’s picture book, Mr. G Big Yellow Bus, which introduces young readers to school bus safety.
“One thing they can learn is the importance of seatbelts, the importance of not standing in the aisle and not throwing stuff out the windows,” said Nichols, who’s been a school bus driver for nearly a decade, most recently with Bridgeton Public Schools in New Jersey.
By introducing these safety lessons through a children’s picture book, Nichols said he hopes young students will become more familiar with safe behavior on and around the school bus. As a school bus driver himself, Nichols knows the responsibilities he has and the importance of keeping the children safe at all times.
“Our responsibility as bus drivers is no kid left behind, and sometimes if you watch the news, you see kids get left on a bus,” Nichols said. “It’s important for the school bus drivers and the children to be aware of their surroundings to keep this from happening.”
After reading Mr G Big Yellow Bus, Nichols said he hopes young readers will understand that “your bus driver cares about you. I take my job seriously; I go above and beyond. Also, I want to see that they are safe and respect others.”
Nichols is working to reach more students through school readings and outreach effort. He said he hopes to encourage reading the physical copy of a book for young children, as an alternative to electronics. Mr G Big Yellow Bus is available for purchase on Amazon.
Additionally, Nichols is creating a Spanish book version, hoping he can eventually make it available in all languages. Nichols is also working on another children’s book, which will focus more on safety.
“I’m going to continue to write because I found a passion for it now,” Nichols said. “The recognition that I’m getting from the kids and my family, the support that I’m getting now from writing a book, and it’s something positive.”
For Nichols, one of the most rewarding parts of writing the book has been seeing how young readers connect with the story.
“I’m getting a lot of positive feedback from people that bought the book for their kids,” Nichols said. “I FaceTimed a couple of them, just hearing them say, ‘That’s Mr. G! That’s Mr. G!’ It’s really a heartwarming thing.”
Parents in a rural Maryland community are calling for a longtime school bus driver to be reinstated after she was removed from her route for allowing a student to leave the bus and rescue an injured kitten, reported WBNG News.
Cynthia Morgan, 67, had driven students in the Harford County Public Schools system for 11 years. Morgan said losing her position devastated her.
Video recorded along Heaps School Road shows the school bus stopped as a North Harford Elementary School student retrieved the kitten. Parents acknowledged that allowing the child to exit created a safety concern but argued that removing Morgan was excessive.
Carolyn Kalambihis, whose children have ridden Morgan’s bus for five years, told local news reporters that the area has little traffic and Morgan would not have made the same decision on a busier road. She said Morgan used her own money to buy students’ school supplies, holiday gifts and birthday cards.
“She is an angel. She’s the most caring person,” Kalambihis said.
Kalambihis and other parents are circulating an online petition asking that Morgan be returned to her route. She said Morgan’s 11 years of service should be considered. Calls for her restatement have circulated across social media.
Meanwhile, Kalambihis added that she believes Morgan recognizes that allowing the student to leave the bus was a mistake. “It shouldn’t have happened,” she said. “I believe she knows that and understands and, looking back, knows she made a mistake and should not have done what she did.”
Harford County Public Schools reportedly said Morgan was employed by an independent contractor rather than a district employee. However, the district is responsible for certifying drivers who transport its students.
“Certification and decertification are not always based on a single factor but often involves consideration of multiple circumstances and requirements,” the district said via the news report. “Student safety remains our top priority, and all certification decisions are made with that responsibility in mind.”
The district declined to discuss Morgan’s case specifically. The name of her employer and whether she was terminated by the contractor or only removed from the district route were not immediately clear.
Between driver’s ignoring stop arm cameras, bus drivers unable to see students outside of the bus, and inattentive students, the Kansas State Department of Educated estimates there are over 13,000 injuries in school-bus related incidents involving students, pedestrians, and vehicles.
In this presentation, we will discuss how Artificial Intelligence (AI) is quickly moving from concept to a practical safety tool for student transportation safety. AI-powered safety systems can help detect pedestrians and objects around vehicles, alert drivers to risky behaviors, and trigger real-time responses to specific safety events.
This presentation explores how AI is being used today to improve school bus safety, what technologies are most ready for adoption, and which applications may be further out. Attendees will learn implementation best practices, key considerations for evaluating solutions, and how evolving industry expectations and regulations may shape future fleet safety decisions.
Brought to you by Brigade Electronics
REGISTER BELOW:
Presenters:
Corey Heniser
CEO
Brigade Electronics
Corey Heniser is CEO of Brigade Electronics, Inc., bringing 30 years of experience focused on vehicle safety for on-road and off-road applications. His career began with municipal fleet technologies for safer winter road maintenance, then expanded into hydraulic braking systems and radar-based collision avoidance for major OEMs and international distributors. In 2009, Brigade invited Corey to help grow its North American business. Now in his 16th year with Brigade, he continues to introduce safety technologies for commercial fleets while contributing to ANSI standards, collaborating with OSHA, and supporting Vision Zero and Together for Safer Roads initiatives.
Jeff Schweitzer
National Sales Manager
Brigade Electronics
Jeff Schweitzer is a sales and business development leader with more than a decade of experience driving growth for Brigade Electronics Inc. As National Sales Manager, he leads U.S. sales teams, develops national accounts, and supports forecasting, budgeting, and quota planning. His work has expanded Brigade’s presence across the United States and Mexico while strengthening relationships with distributors, OEMs, body builders, and fleet operators. Jeff has helped grow Brigade’s vehicle safety solutions, including radar, alarms, camera systems, proximity sensors, and recorders. He brings multi-industry experience and a customer-focused approach to building strategic relationships and supporting commercial vehicle safety nationwide.
Steven Wenger
OEM Business Development Manager
Brigade Electronics Group Plc
Steven Wenger is a business development and engineering leader with extensive experience delivering technology solutions for OEMs, commercial vehicle manufacturers, fleets, and upfitters. He currently serves as OEM Business Development Manager at Brigade Electronics Group Plc, where he builds strategic partnerships and helps customers identify practical solutions for the commercial vehicle market.
Drawing on a background in project engineering, direct sales, strategic partnerships, and fleet applications, Steven connects technical capabilities with real-world customer needs. His work is focused on developing strong relationships and scalable solutions that support safer, smarter, and more seamlessly integrated vehicles.
Analysis on safety conversations revived by a fatal Florida crash that killed a student and motorist, School Bus Safety Month, and discussion at the recent National Association for Pupil Transportation (NAPT) Conference & Trade Show.
Consultant Sue Shutrump is a retired occupational and physical therapy supervisor for Trumbull County ESC in Ohio, co-chair of NAPT’s Special Needs Advisory Committee, and member of the Transporting Students with Disabilities and Special Needs (TSD) Conference Tenured Faculty. She discusses her eventful career including receipt of the NAPT Distinguished Service Award, plus nuances of student safety and the importance of federal guidelines.
Follow the adventures of Calvin, an anxious but dutiful bus driver, and his sentient and safety-conscious school bus named Christina. The short story follows Calvin’s route adventures while highlighting very real circumstances that drivers face and underscoring the importance of student transportation safety. Find group discussion prompts at the end of each article. The story advisor is Fredrick Tottenham, student safety specialist with Irving ISD in Texas.
“Alright, girl, I’m going to need your help with this one,” I whisper to the dash. My stomach twists. Why does confronting teenagers make me such a nervous wreck?
The students are all aboard, absorbed in social media feeds and the latest high school gossip—everyone except Thomas and Stephen, who can barely hold their heads up. I swallow the lump in my throat and ignore the curious stares as I make my way toward them.
“Hey, Mr. Calvin. See somethin’ you like?” Thomas slurs.
“With glasses that thick, I’m sure he does!” Stephen shouts.
The bus erupts in laughter, and suddenly I’m back in ninth-grade English, fourth period, with Ms. Fannin. She had called on me to read from the lesson, and for one brief, shining moment, I thought I was impressing the prom queen. Then Bentley—the class clown—snatched my glasses from my face, slipped them on, and joked that the lenses were as thick as a fishbowl. He earned detention and the laughter of the entire class. I earned a nickname: Cal the Clown Fish.
“Alright, guys,” I say, forcing confidence into my voice, “What’s going on? More importantly, have you been drinking anything you shouldn’t be drinking?”
The boys trade a quick glance, silently agreeing to keep up the act. Thomas drops his head into his hands while Stephen crosses his arms and turns toward the window. I give them one last chance to come clean. When neither responds, I warn them that my next step will be to contact the authorities. Still, neither one moves.
I return to the front of the bus, pick up the radio, and call Dispatch.
“Route 7568 to Dispatch.”
“Dispatch here. Go ahead, Route 7568.”
“I have a code 9-32.”
“10-4, 7568. Call Dispatch directly for further assistance.”
I call Dispatch directly, and Ms. Debbie answers.
“Hi, Mr. Calvin. I’m relieved Sasha is safe and the police have cleared the area. You reported an emergency over the radio. Is that correct?”
“Yes. Thank you, Ms. Debbie. And, uh, I have a problem on my bus.”
I rub the back of my neck and glance toward Thomas and Stephen while I explain what’s happening. Ms. Debbie listens carefully, then says she’ll contact an administrator at Townsend High and notify the authorities.
I sigh and glance back at the boys. They have no idea how much trouble they’re in.
Then Christina’s dash pings:
CANS
A moment later, it pings again:
BACKPACKS
How could Christina possibly know what was inside their bags? Then again, she seems to notice everything. Which is ridiculous, of course—Christina doesn’t have eyes. Or does she?
A sharp knock strikes the folding doors. An officer reaches for the exterior handle and pulls it hard. The doors fold outward with a screech, and two officers climb aboard, their boots thudding against the steps. Christina shifts beneath their weight as a wave of hot, humid air rolls through the doorway, carrying the scent of sunbaked pavement. Around me, the students’ chatter fades row by row until the bus falls silent.
“Hello, sir. I’m Officer Wilmer and this is my partner, Officer Hutchins. We were dispatched by request of Ervens ISD on a report of public intoxication of a student.”
I introduce myself to the officers and tell them that the students are hiding booze in their backpacks. When Thomas and Stephen hear this, they both aggressively object.
“You ain’t even looked in my bag, Mr. Calvin,” Stephen protests. “You don’t know what’s in there!”
“Is that right? Well, open your backpacks and let us look inside,” Officer Hutchins demands.
The officers motion for the boys to hand over their backpacks and then begin searching them. It doesn’t take long. From the bags, they pull a mix of empty and unopened beer cans. With the evidence in plain sight, the officers order Thomas and Stephen to stand and escort them off the bus.
With their heads hanging, the boys sober up to the reality of what they’ve done. They may face suspension from transportation, suspension from school, and whatever charges may result from their actions. I thank the officers and close the doors behind them while the rest of the students whisper and stare out the windows as Thomas and Stephen are led to the patrol vehicle.
“Alright, everyone, I think we’ve all learned a lesson here, haven’t we? Let’s take our seats and put on our seat belts,” I say, feeling a bit more confident.
I hear the students shuffle into their seats and hear their seat belts click into place.
Click.
Click.
Click.
The familiar sound echoes through Christina’s cabin. I glance into the student mirror, scanning the rows of seated students, and every belt I can see appears secure.
Satisfied, I turn forward, fasten my seat belt, and push in the parking brake, ready to put Christina in gear. Before I can pull away, Christina’s dash pings, as if she knows exactly what I’m thinking:
NOT SO FAST
I glance back into the student mirror, adjust it, and spot a student near the rear. She glares at me with her arms folded, her seat belt hanging at her side. I signal for her to fasten her seatbelt, but she only scoffs.
What a route.
In one afternoon, I’ve faced more than enough: The false but still terrifying alarm of an active shooter at Sasha’s workplace, my own near-miss in safety at the crosswalk, and two inebriated students being escorted off the bus by the authorities. Now, after all that, one student is refusing to fasten her seat belt. For her safety, I know I can’t move the bus. I run both hands through my hair, remove my glasses, and rub my eyes and face.
Some days, transporting students is simple. Other days, it feels impossibly complicated. Right now, I can’t tell if I’m driving a bus or clinging to the front seat of a roller coaster, bracing for every twist, turn, and unexpected drop.
Christina’s dash chirps once more:
BUCKLE UP.
Ask Your Team:
What signs might indicate that a student is under the influence of alcohol or another substance, and how would you work with Dispatch to keep all students safe?
Next Stop:
Episode 4
Click It or Risk It! – Seatbelt Safety: Ensure every student is buckled up before the bus moves.
All 100 U.S. Senators backed the Child Safety Network’s (CSN) latest call for September to be proclaimed National School Bus Safety Month, marking 13 years of bipartisan support.
CSN has worked since 1989 to protect children from injury, exploitation and other safety threats, while providing families, schools and student transportation professionals with education, resources and best practices. Each September, CSN promotes National School Bus Safety Month, encouraging parents, students, educators, motorists and school bus professionals to recognize their shared responsibility in keeping children safe on and around the school bus. Through its Safe Ride campaign, it supports the school bus industry with driver training, the latest technology and resources for transportation professionals, students, parents, and communities.
According to a press release, this year marks a milestone for CSN and its partners, as Sen. Deb Fischer of Nebraska enters her second decade of leadership as prime sponsor of the month.
“CSN is deeply grateful for Fischer’s sustained commitment to student transportation safety and for the bipartisan support of the senators who have helped carry this effort forward over the years,” the release states.
Fischer said she’s proud to introduce School Bus Safety Month with Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan, to support transportation professionals who keep students safe.
Since 2018, Peters has repeatedly been the resolution’s lead Democratic co-sponsor, helping secure unanimous Senate support for National School Bus Safety Month and advance student safety nationwide, including for families throughout his home state. Peters is preparing to retire from the Senate at the conclusion of his term. This year marks his sixth and final year as the resolution’s lead Democratic co-sponsor. Lincoln is a Republican.
Senate Resolution 944 introduced and unanimously passed on Sept. 30 says school buses are the largest form of mass transportation in the U.S. In an average year, the proclamation reads, 48 percent of students in kindergarten through grade 12 ride a school bus, and school buses travel more than 4 billion miles during the school year. With billions of student boarding and unloading events occurring each school year, safety extends far beyond the time a child spends seated aboard the bus, the press release states.
The 2026 resolution also highlights the importance of collaboration among local, state and federal authorities, institutions of higher education, school transportation professionals, safety organizations, technology providers, and other partners working to identify and advance solutions to preventable transportation-safety threats, the press release adds.
“It encourages broadcast, digital-media and social-networking industries to help disseminate public-service messaging that provides free resources to safeguard children, recognizes school bus operators and transportation professionals, and encourages motorists to drive more safely near school buses as students board and disembark,” it continues.
The release adds that the month is also an opportunity to recognize and thank school bus operators and transportation professionals. “Every school day, families place extraordinary trust in the people responsible for getting children safely to school and safely home again,” the release concludes.
“Parents need to have the peace of mind that when they drop their kids off at the bus stop, they will get to school and back home safely,” said Peters. “I’m proud to again co-lead this bipartisan resolution with Senator Fischer to designate September as National School Bus Safety Month. This resolution will promote safe driving practices and help provide advanced training for school bus professionals to keep our kids safe on their way to and from school.”
The National Transportation Safety Board has opened an incident investigation into the fatal Oct. 5 school bus crash in Winter Haven, Florida, as local officials praised the bus driver’s response and provided new details about the victims and investigation.
Despite Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd initially telling reporters that the NTSB was not needed to investigate the multi-vehicle crash that occurred Monday morning, the agency said it is coordinating with his office. An NTSB spokesperson clarified for School Transportation News that it opened an incident investigation rather than a full safety investigation.
“There are no planned reports on this event, but the information we gather could be used to support other investigations and studies in the future,” the NTSB spokesperson explained.
Meanwhile, Polk County authorities identified the student who died as Adinaluz Prieto Oyola, a 16-year-old 10th-grader and cheerleader at Winter Haven High School. Deshawn Smith, 26, the driver of the Jeep struck by the bus, died at the scene, according to the Sheriff’s office. GoFundMe pages have been set up for both Prieto Oyola and Smith.
Three students remain hospitalized but are expected to recover, authorities said.
Sheriff Grady Judd said school bus driver Jessica Dye, 34, was pinned inside the vehicle but pulled herself out and immediately began helping the children on board.
Polk County Public Schools Superintendent Frederick Heid praised Dye as a hero, citing her composure and continued focus on students throughout the crash’s aftermath.
Heid also recognized students and good Samaritans who helped. According to officials, video showed four students attempting to rescue Prieto Oyola from the bus.
Polk County Public Schools issued a new statement expressing condolences and thanking those who supported the community.
“Our hearts go out to the family and friends of Winter Haven High sophomore Adinaluz Prieto Oyola,” the district stated. “Thank you to the many people from our county and state who have reached out to show support. A special thanks to the first responders and hospital workers who provided aid yesterday — we truly appreciate you.”
Polk County Schools officials confirmed the school bus was equipped with seatbelts. The exact type were not specified but they are thought to be lap belts, which are often used across the state. State law enacted 25 years ago required seatbelts at all school bus rider positions but did not specify between two-point lap belts and three-point lap/shoulder belts. Regardless of the type, usage by students and drivers is required.
As previously reported by School Transportation News, the crash occurred around 6:15 a.m. Monday on Lucerne Park Road, while the bus was transporting students to Winter Haven High School. Three other vehicles were involved.
The bus carried 39 people: 37 students, Dye, and her 9-year-old daughter. ABC News reported 35 of the bus inhabitants were transported across four local hospitals.
Investigators said a white Chevrolet Malibu crossed the double yellow line and struck the left rear of the eastbound school bus. Judd said a preliminary review of the school bus video showed the bus was in its proper lane before the collision.
Video released by the Polk County Sheriff’s Office shows the collision. Viewer discretion is advised. The the video shows the impact and the inside of the bus.
The impact tore a tire from the bus and caused it to lose traction, sending it into the westbound lane, where it collided head-on with Smith’s Jeep, according to authorities.
Investigators identified the Malibu driver as Maria Jimenez, 23, who is reportedly a nursing student. They said she cooperated fully, provided her phone, and voluntarily submitted a blood sample.
Authorities said blood test results remained pending. Investigators reported seeing no signs of impairment but had not determined why the Malibu crossed the center line. Judd also reportedly said cell phone usage had already been ruled out as a cause of the crash. A NTSB preliminary investigation report is expected in the coming weeks.
Judd said Jimenez would likely receive traffic citations for crossing the center line. He said criminal charges were not expected unless new evidence emerged.
We analyze safety and training lessons from the leadership-themed October issue of School Transportation News, the question of seatbelts in two scary school bus rollovers in Texas and Indiana, a child dragged by school bus loading doors in New York, and a driver and aide arrested for spraying disinfectant on a student with special needs.
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This year’s featured poster was designed by Sai Darshana Yekolu, a sixth grader at Moseley Middle School in Prosper, Texas. Yekolu was named the overall national winner of the 2026 contest after advancing through state competition.
(CMX) platform. Zum CMX connects routing, dispatch, drivers, schools, families, safety and operations in real time, helping districts improve reliability, optimize resources and provide families with greater visibility.
