Safety on school buses requires a team effort

It takes a team. That's one of our favorite sayings here in the Salt Lake City School District, where the efforts of all employees, administrators, teachers, classroom assistants, school bus drivers, bus assistants, food service workers, custodians, school nurses, secretaries and other support staff are essential to the success of our students.

The same notion applies to school bus safety. Oct. 16-22 is National School Bus Safety Week, a great time to celebrate the fact that school buses are the safest form of road transportation in America, carrying millions of students more than 4 billion miles each year. It's also a great time to say thank you to the district's outstanding school bus drivers and assistants who, every day, in all types of weather and traffic, transport students to and from school safely and reliably.

As good a job as our school bus drivers and assistants are doing, we all can do more to ensure that the district's schoolchildren have the safest school bus rides possible. That's why my union, the Salt Lake City School Transportation Employees Local No. 6626, will be distributing a brochure called "Managing Student Behavior on the School Bus" to all school bus drivers and assistants in the district. The brochure recognizes that student behavior is one of the most important factors affecting school bus safety and provides tips that help drivers manage behavior effectively.

Other school and community members can play a part as well. Administrators can help by setting strict and clear rules for student behavior on school buses and enforcing these rules fairly and consistently. Parents can help by talking to their children about these rules, as well as other basic safety procedures. And all motorists should make a conscious effort to drive vigilantly and obey traffic regulations, including stopping when school buses display flashing red lights and a stop arm. This law applies whether you are in front of or behind the bus.

School bus safety is a team effort. By working together, we can minimize school bus accidents and better protect our community's most precious resources: our children.

William Anderson is president of the Salt Lake City School Transportation Employees.

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