Left Behind, Lost, Abandoned! - continued
Original story title, "Left Behind, Lost, Abandoned, first published in the JAN. 2005 Issue of 2safeschools Front Page, Copyright �2005, All Rights Reserved.
By James Kraemer, �2005, All Rights Reserved.
May be reprinted with permission from 2safeschools.
Page 2, continued - How does it happen?
It should be obvious the event begins with the bus driver failing to perform the post-check, checked too quickly or was distracted adequately to miss the sleeping child.
Watching the drivers perform post-trips from a distance may reveal some insight. It can be expected that every driver may fail to check for a sleeping child on occasion, some on very rare occasion.
Other issues may include: Was the schedule too tight and the driver too rushed? Was there a highly-emotional moment on the route with a child, parent or school staff member that affected the driver emotionally and interfered somehow with the driver completing his or her duties? Was the driver simply off task, as a matter of practice? Has the driver's mental state deteriorated - can no longer remember important things? Is the driver typically stressed and overactive - 'butterfly' syndrome or ADHD?
Bus drivers say that a marked on or damaged seat, an article of clothing or litter opposite the sleeping child, can distract the bus driver just enough to miss a sleeping child. A sudden intrusion from a fellow driver, manager, other staff or person during the post-check inspection can accomplish the same distraction. A small child sleeping under the seat can be missed.
A bus returning to the lot with a mechanical issue may distract the driver from doing the check. The routine has changed, the bus may be parked at the garage door or in the garage. While the driver explains the problem to the mechanic, both may not notice the post-check for a sleeping child did not happen.
Any change in routine can distract the bus driver and result in one or more missed duties.
Intelligence and walking distance have nothing to do with this specific event. This should be obvious to every adult involved: None are perfect and none need go far to find an experienced bus driver that can prove this reality.
Sir Thomas Browne presented: "Have too rashly charged the troops of error and remain as trophies unto the enemies of truth." - Religio Medici (pt. I, sec. VI)
"I will never make that mistake."
It may be a mistake to accept at face value any driver claiming, "I will never make that mistake."
The Commercial Appeal reported in the Summer of 2003, that a 2-year-old Memphis girl spent the last few hours of her life alone in the back of a broiling daycare van, strapped in a car seat. She was found dead after eight hours, forgotten by daycare workers outside the Children's Rainbow Learning Center.
Four years before that event, two children died in a similar fashion on the same day, sparking outrage, a wave of investigations of Shelby County day care centers and reforms in Tennessee.
Reportedly, at the Children's Rainbow Learning Center incident, a distressed woman in the driveway of the Center who mentioned she was the daycare van driver's mother, said, My daughter said that will never happen to her, she would never leave a child on a van.
Virtually all bus driver's that leave a sleeping child on the school bus never made that mistake before. They may have failed to do a post-trip on occasion, but that failure did not include leaving a sleeping child behind.
Seldom are bus drivers actually fired for failing to perform a post-trip. Were that the case few fleets would exist these days in our country. In reality, termination, when it happens, is usually handed down because the driver left a sleeping child on the bus.
Did the driver support system fail that bus driver?
A letter from a concerned parent to 2safeschools reveals much:
My daughter was recently left in her bus by herself (bus was parked at the bus garage). From what I can tell, there were at least 6 safety measures that were not met. To start off, my daughter is 3 years old and attending pre-school. She is the last of 3 children that are picked-up on her bus. All children are put into car seats. So the bus consists of a driver, a para-professional, and the 3 children. They drive 5 minutes to the school, and are unloaded there. The bus driver then leaves the school, drives 15 minutes across town to drop off the para-professional, and then another 5-10 minutes back to the bus garage. The driver then got off the bus and left, leaving my child in the bus alone for approximately 40 minutes until she was reported missing and a bus company supervisor checked the bus. There was a 30 minute window (after I was notified) that no one, including myself, had any idea where my daughter was. I hope that no one ever has to go through what I went through for those 30 minutes.
As I see it, there were 6 procedures that I can tell were missed;
1.) The Para-professionals at the school are suppose to check to make sure the bus is empty;
2.) The Para-professional on the bus is suppose to sit in the back of the bus;
3.) Prior to getting off the bus, the para-professional is suppose to check to make sure bus is empty;
4.) The bus driver is suppose to check to make sure the bus is empty, and hang a sign indicating so, prior to getting off the bus;
5.) The bus driver is suppose to disarm an electronic alarm on the bus (not sure what this is);
6.) The bus company is suppose to check for the signs in the bus.
Any one of these would have prevented my daughter from being left on the bus, but none of these happened. What can I do, as a parent, to help prevent this sort of thing from happening again? Thankfully my daughter is fine, but I want to make sure no family has to go through what mine went through. Your suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
In the specific instance above, the school attendance procedure eventually revealed the oversights and helped intervene. In many of the "To School" reports attached this did not happen and the child was left unattended for hours.
The actual question that must be answered may not be how the driver failed. That's usually self-evident. Less obvious (or ignored) may be the question, When the driver errored how did the driver's backup support then fail that driver?
An increasing number of bus monitors (also referred to as bus aides, paraprofessionals) are riding the buses these days. To some it is astonishing that many of the kids left behind involved smaller buses and school vans with one or more aides on board.
The additional resource and expense of providing an aide on the school bus can result in little more than the firing of two employees when a sleeping child is left behind. In these situations the kids ended up perhaps no safer on a bus with a bus driver and a monitor, than on a bus with just a bus driver.
Many of the attached reports reveal children were missing for several hours. This should be of major concern, since not only did the bus driver error performing the check, but the driver's backup support also errored. In too many cases school staff failed in their duties.
What good is a backup system that doesn't backup?
Kids left on the bus, more than 30 minutes or so, is a strong indicator that the entire process is dysfunctional, perhaps nothing more than "feel-good" advertising that promotes a false assumption the drivers are covered and the kids are safe.
Effective driver training, established and practiced duties, and support mechanisms must be in place and functioning to help insure the children are safe and the drivers covered.
Consider this list of checks and ideas to help end this mistake occurring at your facility:
_____Bus drivers are fully trained and practiced in the importance of checking for a sleeping child at the end of each run?
_____Every day the first week, and at least once a month after that, drivers are reminded to always check for a sleeping child at the end of each run? (memo, newsletter, poster - written, stamped or printed on paycheck.)
_____Students are required to sit at least two to a seat (up to three for the young, closing as many of the back seats as possible. (Ban at least prek-5 from the rear area and from seats next to the emergency door.)
_____At schools the bus drivers release students seat-by-seat, while walking to the back of the bus to check for a sleeping child? (Catching vandalism, littering, left items and faster departures are all additional benefits of this driver activity.)
_____Monitors sit in the back of the bus when not needed momentarily in other areas of the bus? (A monitor should not sit near the driver and chat with the driver during the route.)
_____The school has an attendance backup system in place that actually works?
_____Where the school attendance system is considered unreliable or as an extra cover, at the end of every day, (or each route where determined necessary), someone other than the driver and monitor double checks the bus to insure no child is still on the bus?
_____A child-check safety device, several listed below, is installed on every vehicle used to transport school children? (These devices are inexpensive and provide better protection than signs in windows and crossing ones fingers.)
_____Parents are informed what number to call immediately in the event their child does not show at the expected time?
_____Written policy addresses this issue in the full context of the offense and measured consequences for committing the offense?
Note on Policy Issues
The author's two-year study of this issue has resulted in the following recommendation:
- Policy should not be an arbitrary document that declares to *terminate any staff failing to perform as expected. Automatic termination may be inappropriate - seems too often a political/emotional response to the issue. The real issue that must be solved are failures to do post checks at every school and at the end of every route back at the bus parking area, as well as establishing back-up support that actually works.
Opinions often include, a parent would be charged with negligence if a child were left alone in the family's private car. A realistic thought might be that a parent should not be charged with criminal negligence unless intent can be proven or an injury of consequence occurs. Parents screw-up in all sorts of ways with their kids. Should a parent be charged with a crime for not being present at the bus stop to receive their child? In any case the parent is seldom fired from raising any more kids.
*Termination does seem to be a valid recommendation when the offense resulted in the death of a child, the child suffered a serious injury of consequence as determined by a licensed medical professional, a reminder system was found sabotaged by the driver, or the driver is found guilty of a serious crime in a court of law.
- The policy should demonstrate a rational, measured approach, such as an option to suspend without pay for a period of time on the first offense and when no injury of consequence has occurred to the child.
Suspension options should define all staff affected by the policy and be sufficient to demonstrate appropriate action shall be taken with all staff involved in the incident, including any school staff directly responsible for covering the affected child's safety. Suspensions might include up to 30-days unpaid on the first offense, and perhaps 90-days unpaid suspension on a second offense occurring within a specific period. Policy should also specify the length of a binding record of the offense, such as 7 years or as defined by related state statutes.
With encouragement and support - while avoiding charged emotional acts of vengeance and unsupportive acts from administrations - the incident, leaving a child unattended on the school bus, can result in saving the careers of experienced school bus drivers and other staff, as well as effect greater acceptance of responsibility from school bus drivers and the community.
"Mistakes are a fact of life. It is the response to errors that counts,"said Nikki Giovanni, Black Feeling/Black Talk/Black Judgment--Of Liberation
It may serve better for employers and the communities to demonstrate effective outcomes that help keep kids safe. "We" made mistakes and "we," all involved, will resolve it together.
Properly train, practice, supervise, support and catch this potential risk to children's safety before a child is left behind, lost, abandoned ... or worse.
Reports Archives: 2003 | 2002
Transportation Law Suits, Industry Laws, Litigation, Articles, Contracts, News, Research. (www.FindLaw.com)
LawCrawler - Legal Web & Databases Search. | School Bus Search
GST SmartID - Transportation management, school administrators and even parents can know which student is on which bus at any time; the bus driver also knows immediately if a student is boarding the wrong bus. (GeoSpatial Technolgies)
Sleeping Child Check Monitor - You can reduce the possibilities of your company falling victim to front-page newspaper stories or on the 6:00 news. (Doran Mfg. LLC)
Child Check-Mate Safety System - The Child Check-Mate System is a popular device. (Child Checkmate Systems Inc.)
CR2A - Child Reminder System - Child Reminder System can't be bypassed by having students push buttons or by walking around the outside of the bus. Turns on interior lights for higher visibility while checking seats for sleeping children. (CRS Electronics)
Bus-Scan� Child Reminder - The Bus-Scan� Child Reminder, reminds the driver to walk to the back of the school bus at the end of each trip and visually check for remaining children or lost personal items. (Robotics Technologies, Inc., Child Safety Division)
School Bus Loading and Unloading Item 22: Upon completion of the route, walk through the bus to check for sleeping students, vandalism, and forgotten articles. (Motor Transportation Division/School Transportation Section)
Teachers Guide - This excellent teachers guide presents different aspects of school bus safety. Explains common child behaviors that may lead to injury, yet fails to mention the importance of alerting the bus driver to sleeping children.
PBS - Parents and Guardians Resource - Excellent guide, yet does not inform parents about children left sleeping on the bus and what to do next if the child doesn't arrive home on time.
School Bus Safety Resource Guide As is evident in the U.S., nothing in this excellent Canadian resource seems to mention checking for a sleeping child. Pretrips and other responsibilities are presented in detail.
Families Insisting on Safe Student Transportation (FISST) - A new parents website that will encourage individuals in every school district to encourage their school board or superintendent to support a bill requiring monitors on every elementary school bus in Connecticut.
Remember Alleceea.com - A Canaidan parents website working toward requiring all elementary school buses be required by the Ministry of Education to have an adult supervisor on board, in addition to the driver; all elementary school buses be required by the Ministry of Transportation to have appropriate and properly installed Child Safety Restraint Systems to be used by all children under 50 pounds or 23 kilograms; and all school bus drivers and bus supervisors annually receive mandatory instruction and testing in First Aid, CPR and Emergency Situation Management, as a requirement of MTO licensing.
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