Even if you don't watch the new version of the show that originally aired from 1968 until 1980, you might recall the weekly challenges faced by Lt. Commander Steve McGarrett, U.S. Navy, and a hand-selected task force of Honolulu Police Department detectives as they scour the islands to solve the most serious crimes. The Dec. 4 episode "Pahele," which is Hawaiian for: "A snare, noose, trap; to ensnare, trap; deceit, treachery."

The show centered on an ambush of a school bus that is taking kids and some teachers on a field trip. Two armed suspects feign a traffic collision that the bus rolls up on, only for one of the motorists to turn her gun on and kill the bus driver who egresses to see what's the matter.

What ensues is ripped from a real-life event, the 1973 Chowchilla school bus kidnapping. An armed gang hijacked a loaded school bus east of San Francisco, and later moved the 26 students and the driver to another van before burying it in a rock quarry. The school bus driver and some of the students were able to dig their way out, and the three kidnappers — who were seeking a $5 million ransom — were apprehended. They continue to serve life sentences in a California prison.

The dramatized version of events portrayed in "Hawaii 5-0" certainly contained content that the discerning student transporter might scoff at. You be the judge. But the show captured the polarizing fear that such an incident could cause in a community amongst parents, law enforcement and politicians.

In the end, McGarrett and his sidekicks capture the perps, and the children and teachers are saved.

"Book 'em, Danno."

"A Prospective Longitudinal Study of Children’s Theory of Mind (ToM) and Adolescent Involvement in Bullying" concluded that identifying and supporting children with poor ToM early in life could help reduce their vulnerability for involvement in bullying and thus limit its adverse effects on mental health.

The researchers from King's College of London studied more than 2,200 families with children who were 5, 7, 10 and 12 years old to gauge their ToM, or the capacity of humans to understand the mental states of emotion, desire, hope and intentions. Theory of mind affects the way children imagine the feelings or thoughts of others. Poor ToM is thought to be at the root of most difficulties that people with Asperger's or other autism spectrum disorders experience.

The researchers used eight standardized tasks of the children when they were 5 years old to to assess their ToM. Then, the study identified which of those children were involved in bullying as victims, bullies or bully-victim at age 12. The researchers found a direct correlation between involvement in bullying activities during early adolescence and having poor ToM in childhood.

The study could have some interesting legs for student transporters when attempting (and training how) to understand child behavior on the school bus as well as when reporting and intervening in bullying and harassment incidents.

Transporters of students with special needs are being presented with yet another challenge when it comes to medications on board the school bus. Adding to the usage of epinephrine and insulin shots by students, bus drivers and monitors are now increasingly faced with students who rely on Diastat, typically a rectal gel used in emergency situations to stop cluster seizures caused by epilepsy and other disorders.

The California School Nurses Organization (CSNO) says on its website that Diastat and other anti-seizure medications should not be used in a school setting because they fall within the realm of conscious sedation. CSNO recently fought the passage of SB 161, which was signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown on Oct. 7. The law allows school district personnel, such as bus drivers and aides, to be trained to administer Diastat and other injections when a school nurse is unavailable. The NAPT Special Needs Committee met on this very topic last month in Cincinnati, as there are yet no standards for administering these drugs on the bus.

The number of students who require life-saving medications has increased, said Deborah R.G. Cesario, a school attorney with Lozano Smith in San Diego in a recent issue of LRP's Special Ed eNews.

"This increase appears attributable to more students being found eligible under Section 504 [now that] most mitigating measures may no longer be taken into account [since the passage of the ADA Amendments Act]," she said. "As such, school districts are going to need to quickly assess student symptoms and administer life-saving medications like the Epipen, Diastat, or insulin, not just in the classroom, but also during transportation to and from home and school, field trips, and other extracurricular activities."

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This week, Indiana Attorney General Gregory Zoeller reiterated a similar ruling he made last summer that it is unconstitutional for school corporations to charge school bus fees, either directly or indirectly via a third party. The issue re-surfaced earlier this year when the Franklin Township Schools contracted with the Central Indiana Educational Service Center to provide transportation. CIESC was to charge parents a fee of $47.50 for the first child and $40.50 for each additional child to ride the bus.

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The yellow school bus made this weeks front page of Education Week to go along with an article on the volatile mix of tax cuts and mounting needs of public school districts. The photo shows a Jefferson County (Colo.) Public Schools bus that is taking a student to a local middle school. The school district is charging fees for students to ride the school bus. Voters there defeated a referendum on Nov. 1 that would have used new sales and income taxes to raise $3 billion for education over the next five years

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Student transporters required to comply with federal drug testing rules were reminded this week that on Dec. 1 they must begin using the new custody and control form, or CCF .

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The Society of Automotive Engineers International, commonly known as ASE, is presenting a symposium next month on alternative-fuel innovations in school bus powertrains. Scheduled for Dec. 5 in Raleigh, N.C., attendees will hear the pros and cons of converting to hybrid-electric, propane or CNG.

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J.J. Keller & Associates, a regulatory training and compliance provider, said earlier this month that the FMCSA's hours-of-service final rule for commercial drivers was being reviewed in the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) before publishing in the Federal Register. The review period can last for up to 90 days.

Finally, from the "little birdy told me" department: Television viewers should be on the lookout over the coming months for a PBS series that will feature an hour on transportation, and within it a focus on school busing in the United States.

No one was asking Levell to the dance, something she confided to one of her bus mates. J.T. Thomas, a rookie with the Chicago Bears, accompanied Levell to her end-of-school-year formal dance after hearing a story from his 7-year-old brother who has autism and rides the same school bus as Levell. Levell has spina bifida, a birth defect in which the backbone and spinal canal do not close before birth, and is confined to a wheelchair most of the time.

After securing permission from both Levell's parents and the district, Thomas escorted the young girl to an event that she was worried she would not be able to attend.

"I'm not used to the attention, but I like it," Levell said. "It's been amazing. I can't wait to hear what everybody has to say."

Thomas has promised that if he secures a position with the Bears this fall, he will do everything he can to get game tickets for Levell and her family.

The answer is yes, according to Eric R. Herlan, a school attorney at Drummon Woodsum & MacMahon with offices in Portland, Maine, and Portsmouth, N.H., who presented on the topic on May 3 at LRP's 32nd National Institute on Legal Issues of Educating Individuals with Disabilities.

Taking into account a case out of Phoenix that involved a parent asking a school principal for assistance because her daughter would not get out of bed in the morning – the girl had missed 65 days of school as a result – Herlan said recurring absences could indicated an emotional disturbance or another unidentified disability. And this could merit additional consideration on the student's IEP.

Just as special educators are called on to review records and conduct interviews, observations and assessments to uncover if there are connections between a student's disabilty and excessive absences, according to the May 12 edition of Special Ed e-News published by LRP, Herlan told School Transportation News that student transporters must also play a vital role in identifying why a student repeatedly missing school, especially if the truancy is tied to their disabilities, bullying or harassment, or all three.

"It is certainly true that kids with disabilities are sometimes bullied and that might prompt them to not to come to school. It's also true kids with disabilities are sometimes bullies, and that prompts them not to come to school," he told STN. "If you have a kid with a disability not coming to school, you need to find out why."

He pointed out that more and more states have laws that require investigation and implemented action items to address and stop bullying. Along with special educators, school bus drivers and other transportation personnel must remain vigilant.

"They carry those duties to monitor for that kind of stuff, for bullying that might occur in those settings," Herlan added.