Ohio Launches School Bus Watch Training

WARREN, Ohio - "We teach school bus drivers to be alert for things they never had to watch for before, such as a strange person watching children, a strange car or a strange package on the bus when they get on board for the day," said Pete Japikse, Ohio's state director of pupil transportation. Japikse was describing the statewide effort to train Ohio's 20,000 school bus drivers in the School Bus Watch anti-terrorism and safety training program.

"As a result of their daily driving routine, school bus drivers are some of the best sources to notice something out of the ordinary," said Susan T. Zelman, Ohio Superintendent of Public Instruction. "School Bus Watch will give drivers the training they need to assess and report potential threats to the national intelligence community."

School Bus Watch was developed by the School Bus Security Task Force, a collaborative effort of the NAPT, NSTA and NASADPTS and in cooperation with the American Trucking Associations' Highway Watch program. Highway Watch is funded by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

At press time, Japikse said he already presented the program seven times to Ohio school bus drivers. The largest workshop to date occurred on August 26 when nearly 1,000 drivers gathered in the Warren City School District to receive the training. The recent London terrorist attacks on public transportation underscore the importance and timeliness of this initiative, said a spokesperson for the school district.

Japikse and Terry Thomas, president and CEO of Community Bus Services, Inc., a northeast Ohio school bus contractor that operates in more than 20 school districts in Trumbull, Mahoning and Cuyahoga counties, provided the training. Both Japikse and Thomas are certified trainers. They also serve on the national panel that coordinated this effort with the TSA.

Japikse said, "In Ohio, there are more than 20,000 bus drivers who are responsible for the safe transportation of 80 percent of the state's 1.8 million school children. Before school starts this fall, Ohio will have 20-30 certified instructors in the program and will begin training school bus drivers across the state. There is no charge for School Bus Watch training in Ohio's school districts, as the cost for the program is being covered by a federal grant."

The School Bus Watch training will provide drivers with background on potential threats to school buses, give them a history on terrorism worldwide, and outline tips on how to prevent threatening events in the school bus industry. "We are teaching them enhanced pre-trip inspections," added Japikse, "regular stuff plus tampering, that is evidence of something being changed on the bus that has no explanation."

Once drivers receive the training, added Thomas, they get their own "individual Highway Watch identification number that provides them with official access to report suspicious or threatening activity to the Transportation Security Administration's Information Sharing and Analysis Center."

All Ohio school buses have radios on board, said Japikse. "If something looks wrong, or not normal, drivers are instructed to report that information at the end of their route; it can then be forwarded onto the TSA." In emergencies drivers are instructed to call dispatch which then contacts 911.

"School bus drivers already play a vital role in the safety and security of their communities," Zelman said. "School Bus Watch will give them additional tools that will help keep communities, vehicles and most importantly, children, safe."

The program will ultimately be offered to 600,000 school bus driver professionals nationwide.