LoginCrashes, Proposed Head Start Changes Underline Need for Proper Preschooler Securement
Recent school bus crashes involving preschool-age children and proposed changes to federal Head Start transportation requirements are adding urgency to a new hands-on training planned for the TSD Conference.
“Conventional CSRS, Who Needs ‘Em?! Turns Out, Many Students Do!” will be presented Friday, Nov. 6 by Denise Donaldson, a certified child passenger safety technician instructor and editor and publisher of Safe Ride News. The session will give school transportation professionals practical experience installing and using conventional child safety restraint systems, or CSRS, for preschoolers and other students who require them.
The training comes as occupant protection for young children remains a prominent school bus safety issue. In April, a school bus carrying six preschool students in Meridian, Idaho, was involved in a crash that resulted in one student and a bus monitor being transported to a hospital for evaluation.
Student transporters continue to examine lessons from the March 2024 school bus crash near Dale, Texas, in which a bus carrying 44 preschool students ages 4 and 5, and 10 adult chaperones was struck by a concrete pump truck and rolled over. The National Transportation Safety Board has reiterated that preschool children should be transported using child restraint systems appropriate for their age, weight, height and individual needs.
That backdrop makes proper selection, installation and use of CSRS especially important for transportation professionals serving younger students.
Conventional child safety restraints are designed primarily for passenger vehicles, so they may not always be the first option considered by school bus operators. But Donaldson noted that for many children from birth through kindergarten, as well as some students with disabilities, conventional restraints can be the only suitable option. The TSD training is designed to provide the basics of using those systems correctly in a school bus environment.
TSD Conference participants will work directly with conventional CSRS and school bus seating to see how the restraint interacts with the bus seat, practice making necessary adjustments and learn to identify common installation and usage errors.
The timing is also significant for Head Start transportation providers.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families in August proposed a sweeping rewrite of the Head Start Program Performance Standards that would significantly reduce federal regulation and return greater authority over transportation practices to states and local programs. The proposed rule would remove many of the detailed transportation requirements now contained in federal Head Start regulations.
Among the changes, the proposal would eliminate the federal requirement that at least one bus monitor be aboard whenever Head Start children are transported. Programs would instead have more flexibility to determine transportation staffing based on local operations and applicable state or local rules.
The proposal would go further by removing the existing federal regulatory definition of “child restraint system” from the Head Start regulations, as well as the definition of an “allowable alternate vehicle.”
However, the proposal would not mean Head Start programs are free from child-passenger-safety requirements. ACF states that programs would still have to comply with applicable state and local regulations, including state requirements governing child safety restraints in moving vehicles, and would remain responsible for the safety of enrolled children. Programs could also voluntarily continue practices contained in the current federal standards even when they are not required locally.
That potential shift makes understanding the fundamentals of proper restraint use especially relevant for Head Start transportation personnel. Rather than relying solely on a detailed federal transportation framework, programs could increasingly need to understand how state requirements, vehicle type and accepted child passenger safety practices apply to the children they transport.
Donaldson’s training will also address transportation in vehicles other than traditional school buses. She noted that much of the information translates to alternative vehicles, while important differences in installation and use between vehicle types will also be explained.
The Friday scheduling provides another benefit for teams competing in the special needs team roadeo, giving them an opportunity for hands-on practice before the competition’s car-seat event on Saturday. Participation in the roadeo is not required to attend Donaldson’s training.
Attendees are encouraged to bring questions about conventional CSRS. Donaldson will draw on her experience as a CPST instructor to help participants work through installation and usage issues they may encounter in their own transportation operations.
The Transporting Students with Disabilities and Special Needs Conference Early Bird registration is $499 through Oct. 2, a savings of $100 off the standard registration rate. The conference runs Nov. 4-10, located in Frisco, Texas. Attendees can register and view the latest conference agenda at TSDConference.com.
Related: Special Needs Roadeo Returns to TSD Conference with Expanded Training, Team Challenges
Related: Workshop on Solving Challenging Transportation Scenarios to Close TSD Conference
Related: New Date Set for NHTSA Child Passenger Safety Training at TSD
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