Lisa Grant was convicted this week of disorderly conduct, according to reports, resulting from the November 2012 incident. She admitted she had a heated talk with the driver, but she claims she only showed her underwear, not bare skin, when she mooned the bus with about 45 students aboard at the time. Grant confronted the female driver after she received a note from her saying her son was misbehaving, which a school spokeswoman said was a warning.

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From misbehaving mothers to jokester bus drivers, one video that’s going viral online is of a school bus driver pulling an April Fool’s Day prank with the students on his bus.

Though you can’t see any faces in the video, you can hear the driver telling students that class was cancelled for the day and they had an extra day off. After the students discover it’s a joke, they begin to yell but with disappointment. One student even screams, “I hate you!” but it all ends somewhat lighthearted as the driver simply laughs and says “Oh, I know.” 

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Charlie Hood, the state director of student transportation at the Florida Department of Education, was recently helping his mom move when he found a 50-year report on the educational progress of Pinellas County Schools since its inception in 1912. Hood said his grandmother was an English teacher at St. Petersburg High School for 40 years until the mid-1960s. One article stood out to Hood as it did to us. Surely you'll agree.

"Then - Lumbering to School was an Adventure" details how student transportation had evolved over the previous five decades. It includes a timeline of memorable dates, such as the fall of 1922 when what was at the time known as Lealman District, operated the first county-owned school bus — a Ford Worm Drive. And the driver was one Mrs. Norma Mohr Trowell, whom the article says set a precedent in the county for female drivers. Prior, on Sept. 19, 1913, the school board agreed to pay one-half the cost of transporting students who lived more than three miles from school.

Read the entire article and view some pictures that show Pinellas County school buses of the past, from wagons and jitneys to later-model school buses and a futuristic plan from Wayne Bus Division.

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Last Friday, Galludet University in Washington, D.C., celebrated its 144th graduating class. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, a former member of Galludet's Board of Trustees, keynoted the event and writes on his blog that the world leader in educating students who are deaf and hard of hearing has been bold over the years in overcoming many obstacles. President Abraham Lincoln, LaHood points out, was bold in signing the charter that formed Galludet in 1864.

The university has also surely faced its share of transportation challenges. Galludet's transportation department maintains its own fleet of school buses for to-and-from school transportation as well as to and from school-sanctioned activities. The district does a lot of training, as is attested by the attendance of professional staff at national conferences, such as the STN EXPO.

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Earlier this month, a tribute was held in Yuba City, Calif., to remember the 29 people, mostly students, who died on May 21, 1976, when their school bus went over the side of a freeway overpass in Martinez, Calif., and plunged 30 feet. The Yuba City High School choir was on its way to a competition.

This month also marks the 25th anniversary of the 1988 Carrolton, Ky., bus crash. A drunk driver struck a church bus head-on the evening of May 14 as it was returning from a youth outing. Twenty-seven people, most of them children, were killed in the resulting fire when they could not evacuate the bus because exits were blocked. The worst drunk-driving crash in U.S. history resulted in new federal safety standards for school buses and gave prominence to M.A.D.D. There is also a movie based on the tragedy. "Impact: After the Crash" was screened on May 17.

Many school districts are facing similar challenges regardless of their size. STN plans on tackling these challenges at this year's 20^th Anniversary of the EXPO.

Sylvia Arroyo, managing editor, introduces this episode by talking about one of the general sessions that will feature transportation directors from large districts to speak about how they have tackled some of their biggest challenges while still having to transport thousands of students to and from school.

Arroyo also shares some information on a workshop about rural districts and service challenges.

Catch up with plans STN has in store for the 20th Anniversary of the EXPO, this July 20-24, in Reno, Nev. Ryan Gray, editor of the magazine, introduces this series by talking about the story Yul Kwon, former winner of the reality series "Survivor" and host of "America Revealed" on PBS, will share with EXPO attendees on how the yellow bus made possible his education and resulting success as an adult. The event on July 22 is sponsored by Blue Bird Corporation. 

Gray also shares information on an address from Mo Canady, executive director of the National Association of School Resources Officers, which is scheduled for July 23 during a pre-tradeshow brunch sponsored by Thomas Built Buses. 

The EXPO begins on July 20 with two pre-conference seminars that focus on all-important safety and security for students and bus drivers alike. The eight-hour "Child Passenger Safety on School Buses" curriculum approved by NHTSA offers participants who complete the training with continuing education units from Safe Kids Worldwide. Meanwhile, Bret E. Brooks of Gray Ram Tactical, LLC will present the four-hourEmergency Planning and Accident Response for School Bus Drivers."

For example large numbers of students and staff are being trained in what are still theoretical concepts that include attacking active shooters. Though these concepts have still not been validated by independent reliability testing, one trainer claims to have trained more than two million students and staff to attack an active shooter as a last resort.

In fact, the results of more than 3,000 one on one school crisis simulations have shown that these types of concepts can be misapplied by people under even the moderate stress of a simulation. When tested under controlled conditions, school employees have often responded by indicating that they would attack armed subjects who are not actively attacking anyone, even when it would clearly be more dangerous to do so. For example, test subjects have sometimes indicated that they would "attack the gunman" when posed with scenarios of a student threatening to kill himself with a handgun pressed to their temple, or when posed with a scenario of an apparently intoxicated man walking with a gun seventy five yards from a school.

One point that is being missed by many people is that we still do not have a very clear picture of what happened at Sandy Hook Elementary School. The Connecticut State Police report on the incident will not be released until at least this summer. Until that report has been released, we will not know many of the most critical facts of the case.

Having worked seven mass casualty school shooting incidents, I have been deeply impressed with the fact that much of the speculation relating to particulars of the incident normally does not match the facts of the actual case file. This means that people making major changes based on the Sandy Hook tragedy are in effect making changes based on a situation when they do not even know what happened.

School officials should wait until we have better information from this terrible tragedy before making massive changes based on the Sandy Hook incident. They should also remember that this incident, like every other mass casualty shooting in a school is somewhat unique. Decisions should be made based on the overall body of knowledge we have gained studying numerous incidents rather than any one situation.

Mike Dorn is the executive director of Safe Havens International, a global, non-profit school safety center for kindergarten through 12th grade. He is a former school district police chief for Bibb County, Ga., a former school safety specialist for the Georgia Emergency Management Agency and a former anti-terrorism planner and lead program manager at the Georgia Office of Homeland Security.

However, the Senate has been mum on a 5-percent reduction in Head Start funds retroactive to Jan. 1 as well as cuts to special education under IDEA and to Title I. As reported in our April magazine edition, the result of these cuts is expected to be additional employee furloughs if not outright layoffs and more reductions in bus routes and other educational services that could hurt transportation.

Things, however, could be changing. The National Head Start Association (NHSA) said conversations are now turning to funding of the federal program for educating low-income preschoolers and toddlers.

"We are heartened that the focus on the sequester has shifted to the devastating impact the budget cuts are having on the children served by Head Start," said Yasmina Vinci, executive director of NHSA. "It is deplorable that the effort to balance the nation’s budget is being done at the expense of our nation’s most vulnerable children. We are hopeful a resolution can be found soon that will ensure the 70,000 children at risk of losing access to Head Start can continue to benefit from the vital Head Start services that place them squarely on a pathway to lifelong success."

Recently the Minnesota Special Education Transportation Committee, in cooperation with the Minnesota Association of Pupil Transportation, sponsored the 11th annual Annual Special Education Transportation Awards Program to identify and recognize the best school bus drivers and transportation assistants servicing Minnesota students with special needs. Thanks to sponsorship dollars received from vendors, MAPT is awarding the first place special education driver and first place special education transportation assistant the opportunity to receive training at no cost to the school district or contractor. 

We'd like to recognize the 2013 special education driver and assistant winners:

Special Education Drivers:

1st Place: Tom Thaxton, Eden Prairie Schools #272

 2nd Place: Frank Voigt, Pierz Schools #484

3rd Place: Tom Foy, Bloomington Public Schools #271

Special Education Transportation Assistants:

1st Place: Kristi Hatterschide, Eden Prairie Schools #272

2nd Place: Diane Perusse, Osseo Area Schools #279

3rd Place: Jodi Barnes, Voigt’s School Bus Services

Illinois could soon be the latest state to approve video evidence to prosecute motorists who illegally school buses. The state Senate approved SB 0923 on Wednesday, and the bill now heads to the state House. If passed and signed by Gov. Pat Quinn, video showing motorists ignoring the stop arm and flashing red lights would be subject to a $150 fine for a first offense.

R.L. Polk released data that indicates the registrations of hybrid and diesel cars and trucks are up by 33- and 24 percent, respectively. The Diesel Technology Forum responded that the figures prove hybrid and clean-diesel technolgoy are "showing consistent and impressive growth patterns."

Texas school districts were busy this month conducting bus safety road-eos. The Texas Association for Pupil Transportation's Centex Chapter held its school bus safety road-eo April 13 at Comal ISD, located in New Braunfels, right in between San Antonio and Austin. A big thanks to Director of Transportation Gus Rodriguez for sending us the information. CISD spans 589 square miles of central Texas, including parts of five central Texas counties: Comal; Bexar; Hays; Kendall; and Guadalupe. 

We'd also like to recognize all of the winners from this road-eo. It goes to show that despite challenges, school bus drivers are dedicated and determined to provide a level of safety, good judgement and service to not just their superiors, but to students.  

Conventional Bus Road-eo Region 13 Winners:

1st. Place: Martin Monsivais, Austin ISD

2nd. Place: Nichole Lemore, Leander ISD

3rd. Place: Rebecca Alejandro, Hays CISD

Transit Bus Road-eo Region 13 Winners:

1st. Place: Jeri Smith, Lake Travis ISD

2nd. Place: Cherrie Kinsey, Hays CISD

3rd. Place: Kerry Bekkedahl, San Marcos CISD

Special Needs Bus Road-eo Region 13 Winners:

1st. Place: Bobby Minjarez and Attendant Edith Fairchild, Hays CISD

2nd. Place: Steven Nguyen and Attendant Jackie Lee, Austin ISD

3rd. Place: Frank Nanyes and Attendant Christina Campbell, Austin ISD

Conventional Bus- Road-eo Region 20 Winners:

1st. Place: Shanon Taylor, North East ISD

2nd. Place: Michael Castaneda, North East ISD

3rd. Place: Jean Pierce, Southwest ISD

Transit Bus Road-eo Region 20 Winners:

1st. Place: Susan Aldrich, Southwest ISD

2nd. Place: Linda Trinidad, Harlandale ISD

3rd. Place: Marlena Senter, Harlandale ISD

Special Needs Bus Road-eo Region 20 Winners:

1st. Place: Rose Marie Aguilar and Attendant Viola Elizondo, Southwest ISD

2nd. Place: Karen Hardaway and Attendant Barbara Niezgocki, North East ISD

3rd. Place: Gloria Guerra and Attendant Dora Jimenez, Southwest ISD