LOCAL DISTRICTS STICK TO STATE REGULATIONS WITH BUS DRIVERS

Just about every school district is feeling a sharp financial pinch
and is finding ways to tighten its already skin-tight budget.

Local school districts know - as the Columbus Public Schools
District is finding out - shaving large sums of the student
transportation budget isn't a good idea.

What's at stake when red lines go through the transportation budget
is safety. The Columbus City School District canceled classes
Thursday after a contractor responsible for some school bus routes
discovered it had not checked drivers for criminal backgrounds.

The decision by First Student Inc. to ground its fleet came two days
after one of the company's drivers was arrested by Columbus police
on a charge of cocaine possession. The driver also had three
previous convictions for driving under the influence.
Criminal charges may be filed against the bus contractor.

Scott Limburg, transportation and food service supervisor at River
View Local School District, said the biggest difference between the
school bus systems in Columbus and Coshocton County is what drives
the people in charge.

"When you contract out the work, you're dealing with people who
aren't local. We live here, our kids go here, we work here, our
friends are here. We know we're responsible for the safety of our
children and of our friends' children. When you cut corners, safety
is at stake," Limburg said.

His district buses about 1,600 students daily.

Darrell Lear, transportation supervisor with Zanesville City
Schools, said hiring a contract bus company removes a great deal of
control over the busing system from the school district and places
those decisions into the hands of business people living outside
the community.

"They decide where the stops will be, how many students per bus and
the quality of the buses," Lear said.

He said school districts can be tempted into entering into an
agreement with outside bus companies because the companies promise
to provide busing service cheaper than in-house busing. But as
school officials are finding out in Columbus, some busing companies
are lax when it comes to hiring safe, qualified drivers to transport
children to and from school.

Local school districts comply with state standards when it comes to
hiring and maintaining qualified school bus drivers, Limburg said.

Jennifer Orand, mother of a third-grader at West Lafayette
Elementary School, said her daughter enjoys riding the bus.

"My daughter has an awesome bus driver," Orand said.

Orand, who lives in the northeast portion of Coshocton County, said
she was very nervous when her daughter first began riding the bus.

"Time kind of takes care of those worries," she said. "Her driver
(was a bus driver in the district) when I was a kid."

Becoming a qualified bus driver During the initial phase of the
school bus driver hiring process, employee candidates must complete
a written and a physical examination.

Zanesville City Schools District transportation supervisor Darrell
Lear said candidates must be at least 18 years old, have a high
school diploma or General Equivalency Diploma, pass written and
physical examinations and pass a drug test as well as a criminal
background check in order to be looked at as a potential employee.

"They have to have a Class B CDL and you have to go through the Ohio
Pre-Service School Bus Training program offered by the state," said
Scott Limburg, of River View Local School District.

In addition to that 12 hour training period, potential drivers must
also complete a specified amount of on-board training with a
certified instructor. All of this is to obtain a school bus
passenger certificate endorsement.

"You are not allowed to drive bus in this district unless you've met
all those requirements," said Tri-Valley School District
Transportation Supervisor Rod Ashcraft. "And you've got to keep all
of it up to keep driving here."

Lear said Zanesville has its own bus mechanics who keep the vehicle
fleet in excellent working condition so the more than 2,200 students
being transported to and from school are safe. The fleet gets an
annual inspection by the state.

Each bus driver is required to perform a visual inspection on his or
her assigned bus before taking off in the morning. If the driver is
unsatisfied with the safety of the bus, they contact one of the
garage mechanics and is provided a substitute bus until their
vehicle is checked out.

"Also, when a driver is coming from another district and applying
for work in ours, it's common for (the other district) to send us a
reference sheet on that driver, letting us know a little more about
that driver and why he's leaving his district," Lear said.

That reference sheet, Lear said, prevents one district from
shuffling a problematic employee from one place to another.

Keeping your bus driver certification Once hired, school bus drivers
are subject to random drug screenings.

"I've been picked," Darrell Lear of the Zanesville City School
District said. "I'm also a certified sub, when we need drivers."

Lear said the district will select five drivers at a time to take
the drug testing - and substitute drivers are subject to the random
screenings.

"If they get a speeding ticket or some type of moving violation,
they are by law required to notify us," Lear said.

If a drug screen comes back positive, the driver is immediately
removed from driving duties until the matter is reviewed. If the
driver overdoses on drugs or alcohol, that calls for an automatic
CDL forfeiture.

In addition to the drug screenings, most local districts receive a
driver's abstract sheet on each driver.

"If you get a DUI and you have a CDL, you automatically lose your
CDL, which means you can't drive for us," said Rod Ashcraft,
transportation supervisor for the Tri-Valley School District. "If
you've been pulled over for something, it should show up on your
driver's abstract."

Bus drivers must also go through medical tests before getting behind
the wheel each year.

"At River View, every driver has to have a physical and pass that
physical before the school year starts," Scott Limburg of River View
Local School District said.

In addition, every six years bus drivers must go through the entire
certification process again through the Ohio Department of Education.

"The Ohio Pre-Service School Bus Training Program takes about 12
hours," Limburg said. "And each year we have in-service time with
the drivers to discuss any problems the drivers are having and going
through any updates they need to know that have come through the
state office."

Lear said the bus drivers in the Zanesville City Schools District
start out at about $13.56 per hour plus benefits. He said the
Columbus district's pay was slightly higher.

"We have a driver here with a master's degree in chemistry," Lear
said. "Our drivers treat the kids like they're their own. They watch
over these children. Sometimes the drivers are the first people the
kids see in the day. There's no way we can possibly pay them
as much money as they deserve and that's a shame."