13th National Conference on School Transportation

Standards Tossed Out, Guidelines Adopted as 13th
NCST Charts New Direction for School Transporters

WARRENSBURG, Mo. - They came from Georgia, Arizona, Wyoming and as far away as Alaska and Guam. More than 350 delegates representing 48 states and territories arrived here in central Missouri the week of May 14-18, for the 13th National Conference on School Transportation (NCST). By the time they left, delegates had changed the course of the industry.

The conference formally kicked off during an Opening General Session on Mother's Day with five presentations proposing a new name for the final report. The presentations were driven by a growing, industry-wide concern with potential liability stemming from the perception that the conference was creating universal "standards." Presenters examined the pros and cons of the word standards and whether to retain it in the final report of the conference.

Early Monday morning, following a scant 15 minutes of discussion and debate, delegates voted to change a 60-year tradition. The new name adopted for the final report of the 13th NCST is: "National School Transportation Procedures and Specifications." By replacing the word "standards" in the title (present since the first conference in 1939) the new name seeks to better reflect what the conference and its final report are all about, and assuage concerns about liability that have come to accompany the final report of the 12th NCST from 1995.

In the view of Charles F. Hood, chair of the conference, the title change was "probably the most important thing we accomplished." Hood said the new title "reflects the much bigger issue of the increased understanding of the purpose and use of the document by the various recipients."

When asked to identify other important developments Hood promptly pointed to adoption of "school bus use language" in a section originally intended to stem a trend toward use of vehicles in pupil transportation service that do not meet federal school bus safety standards.

Most of this proposed new section written by the Transit Use Committee, was rejected. What remained in the newly adopted "Procedures for the Transportation of School Pupils" cites Recommendation H-99-25 issued by the National Transportation Safety Board in its Special Investigation Report - Pupil Transportation in Vehicles Not Meeting Federal School Bus Standards. The NTSB's report was approved in June 1999. In it, the NTSB made a safety recommendation to the NCST urging that it inform the user community to only use "buses built to Federal School Bus Structural standards or the equivalent to transport children.

Unlike the 60 or so other associations and churches receiving this recommendation, the pupil transportation community is fully aware of the importance of these standards. Never-the-less, as Hood noted, "It was important that delegates (make a) statement in the document in order to state their position and respond to the NTSB recommendation."

Accordingly, delegates to the 13th NCST adopted language that "all students transported to and from public and private schools and school activities shall be transported in school buses as defined in Title 49 CFR Part 571 or vehicles having equivalent passenger crash protection to school buses."

For the pupil transportation industry, the conference was the ultimate exercise in democracy as delegates performed as an editing committee of 350. Meeting in a large hall at Central Missouri State University, delegates proposed, listened to, discussed, and debated a host of ideas. Among the proposals: alternative fuels, bus body and chassis specifications, school bus inspections, terms and definitions, infants and toddlers, several appendices, procedures for special needs and more. Most of the proposals were the result of writing committee work that has been underway for more than two years, but new proposals were taken from the floor. Delegates were alternately interested, opposed, occasionally angered, annoyed, and often pleased by what they heard and saw.

As the proposals came up, the exact language was displayed on three large screens placed throughout the hall. Delegates didn't hesitate to offer amendments from the floor. New ideas and exact language was promptly entered in a computer file and displayed. Then, as in a tennis match in which spectators sitting on the sidelines pivot their heads to follow the flight of the ball across the net, delegates shifted their attention to peer intently as the proposed language popped up on screen. Some ideas were disposed of promptly, but delegates occasionally fell into the abyss of making amendments to amendments to amendments.

The conference concluded Thursday morning with a series of "correction" amendments by the Technical Committee, to reverse or revise proposals hastily adopted earlier in the week.

While the weeklong meeting ended on May 18, the conference didn't really end. Delegates directed the sponsoring organizations to begin preparing for the 14th conference in 2005, and to periodically report back to the industry progress made toward implementing the specifications and procedures established by the 13th NCST.