School districts develop safety plans for student bus trips

~ District policies designed to ensure safety of students.

Area athletes, band members and club participants can travel on a school bus to an event more than five hours away.

The safety of the students on those trips is always in the forefront of school administrators' minds, especially after this past weekend's Wisconsin bus crash that killed five students.

"I don't think you're ever prepared for something like that," Jackson high school principal Rich McClard said.

Every time Central High School athletic director Mark Ruark gets onto a bus with students, he says his biggest concern is they have a safe trip there and back.

Students who travel on the buses practice for emergencies.

"It's important to practice as much as you can for those circumstances you hope never happen," Scott City Middle School principal Paul Sharp said.

On Wednesday, Scott City students practiced bus evacuations, and coaches at Notre Dame practice emergency bus exits at the beginning of every season.

While buses can transport the most students, Scott City, Central and Jackson prefer to keep the buses less than full.

"We'd rather take two buses and have extra expense than to put a lot of kids on one bus," Sharp said.

Some schools do not have buses and instead use passenger vans and student drivers to take students to and from events.

For insurance purposes, Eagle Ridge only allows 10 students and a driver in its 15-passenger van. The students are required to wear their seat belts.

Last year, a bus was donated to Saxony Lutheran, but they still often have to ask students to drive their teammates.

"The bus can't go in two different places," principal Craig Ernstmeyer said.

When Saxony needs students to drive other students, Ernstmeyer makes sure there is parental permission with permission slips signed by those parents.

"That permission slip essentially puts the responsibility of the drive on that student," Ernstmeyer said, regarding how having student drivers affect Saxony's insurance.

Hands of the driver

Once the students get onto the bus or climb into the van, their safety is in the hands of the driver.

"We put a lot of faith in the driver; we do yearly random drug screens," Sharp said.

At Notre Dame the small 24-person bus is driven by one of the teachers who is properly licensed.

Drivers of the Eagle Ridge van are licensed chauffeurs.

Coaches or advisors accompany most of the students on their long bus rides and all are CPR and first-aid certified.

Scott City coaches help keep the students quiet and listen for sirens, Sharp said. This also allows the driver to concentrate on driving and not on discipline.

Jackson coaches take the student physicals and parent-signed medical forms with them on the bus, so if there is a medical emergency the student's medical background is on hand, McClard said.

Central officials make sure at least one adult on the bus has a cell phone, Ruark said.

At all of the area schools buses leave as early as possible to keep the driver from rushing to get the students there on time.

Even with all the precautions accidents still happen, some as minor as a flat tire and some as major as a fender bender.

"Traveling to Joplin one year there may have been a skid on some ice or a flat tire, it wasn't anything major," Eagle Ridge administrative assistant Sarah Hess said.

Recently some Notre Dame Regional High School students were on their way to a retreat when the bus got a flat tire. Teachers had to drive and pick up the students and then take them to the retreat, principal Brother David Migliorino said.

Last year on Main Street, a car rear-ended a Scott City school bus. None of the students were injured and another bus was sent to pick them up.

The bus carrying Central's softball team broke down in Sikeston returning from a tournament; they followed the set procedures by contacting the bus company which sent another bus, Ruark said.

Saxony Lutheran and Jackson have not had any accidents involving students.

ameyer@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 127