Planning for the Worst

District takes lessons from recent school bus tragedies

By Ryan Gray | Senior Editor

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - A tractor-trailer semi with defective brakes careened out of control off Interstate 25 and through an intersection, plowed into the side of a school bus and flipped it over. Several students were killed and dozens of others were injured.

The accident "occurred" April 29, so why, you ask, are we just now reporting it? You'll be happy to learn that no students actually died, or for that matter were even hurt. In actuality, the entire incident was fake, part of a table top exercise performed by the Colorado Springs District 11 transportation department. The school district set up several rooms to portray the accident scene and the bus yard's dispatch office, complete with actual emergency responders and 911 dispatchers, as well as "bystanders" and "witnesses" to test existing procedures and communications and to identify shortfalls and possible solutions when responding to a major school bus accident.

The transportation department anticipates holding a live exercise designed from the table top model, using an actual school bus and tractor-trailer and involving real students, a bus driver and the local police and fire departments. In August, the transportation department will also offer training for administrators and school staff on lessons learned during from the exercise.

School administrators and staff, including principals and their administrative assistants, and representatives from the Colorado Office of Emergency Management and Peterson Air Force Base all took part in the table top exercise.

"It was just an awesome exercise," said Elaine Cox, transportation team leader and driver trainer for District 11. "We found a lot of holes that now we can fix."

One of those was the influx of telephone calls to the transportation department. The phones literally rang off the hook as "parents" anxiously sought word on the safety of their children. Cox said it became quickly apparent that a command post was necessary to contact parents.

"After the tabletop, we came back as a big group, and each group talked about what they saw and what they felt needed to be changed," she said. "We have learned more now from the table top where it's a controlled environment. In a real exercise it may be hard to see the big picture."

The learning session was timely. A couple of weeks prior, Cox and Transportation Director William Bair read on stnonline.com details of a fatal crash involving a garbage truck and school bus in Arlington, Va. Then, about a week later, they read about a semi-truck that crashed into the side of a school bus outside Denver, but with only the driver onboard.

"It drove home immediately some of the points that happen during a crisis," said Bair, who contacted a news station director in Arlington to acquire the tape of a live broadcast from the scene. "You can see the confusion and the concern. Not being able to immediately respond to parents has a devastating impact."

Planning for the Worst

District 11 is an example of a modern, forward-thinking transportation department that has already seen the benefits of incorporating the latest technology into its operations.

The school district, which operates about 120 buses a day - with a 60 percent/40 percent split of regular education vs. special needs routes - for about 6,000 students each day through the 78 square mile area served. Bair said GPS will be installed in the entire fleet this month to record the exact locations of each vehicle, with plans to test student tracking in the next year or so. Students already use ID cards onboard the bus. He added that the table top exercise drove home the crucial nature of using this technology.

"The seating chart becomes the first piece of information used by schools in contacting parents," he said.

The transportation department began preparing for the table top session at the beginning of the 2004-2005 school year, after Bair presented the option of conducting an emergency exercise to the local Transportation Advisory Committee. He had found that most major school bus accidents occur in intersections, with most major injuries and fatalities occurring when the accident involves a tractor-trailer or train.

"Those are the major traumatic events. We wanted to test how the school responds, how the administration responds," he said. "So we designed a scenario focused on that."

In addition, the state plans on refurbishing I-25 over the next couple of years. With construction zones to be popping up everywhere, and with a tractor trailer striking a passenger car in the not too distant past, the impetus for the exercise was there.

"We took that and changed to a school bus running regular route off I-25, with a tractor-trailer coming off the off ramp and T-boning the school bus in the intersection," he said.

The Lessons

At the conclusion of the table top session, the school district discovered that confusion existed during the time of crisis and resulted in misinformation. The most asked question among employees centered on roles and responsibilities.

With multiple sources at the accident scene, which Bair said should always be meticulously treated as a crime scene; accuracy could not always be immediately validated. For example, information on who was actually on the bus at the time of the accident was unavailable. Bair and his staff found that they needed an organized system of documenting the incoming information and identifying the source to determine what actions the transportation department must take. Also necessary is a visible student ID system.

District 11 also found that the decision to set up its Crisis Command Center was delayed, as was timely notification of key district personnel via Nextel text message. The transportation department learned that it needed to immediately establish and implement a crisis command center and a s chool crisis team, with immediate communication and coordination between the two. Prior identification of the crisis team composition, location and communication systems - phone numbers, land lines, cell phones, computers, and such - is also critical.

Updated parent information and alternate emergency contact information needs were found to be deficient. The transportation department recommended back-up systems in the event of non-availability or information or computer/system failure.

As for dealing with the local media, the transportation department found a need for immediate coordination between the school, transportation and district administration and guidance from district communications on how to gather and disseminate information . It recommended using television and radio to notify parents of an emergency and to determine and publicize a central gathering place where parents can be briefed and can obtain additional information.