Putting the Spotlight on Transportation Services

These school employees are usually the first adults to greet children on their way to school and the last to say good-bye to them on their way home from school. Transportation employees must stay up-to-date on the technical aspects of their job. The have to know the latest safety regulations and laws and pass skills tests to keep their licenses and their jobs.

Training for bus drivers and mechanics has always been recognized as an important part of pupil transportation. Their profession is becoming more complex every year. These ESP members have the longest track record for professional development on a technical basis.

NEA in its “2002 Status of NEA K-12 ESP Membership Study” has accumulated the following data about transportation service employees:

• NEA considers the following classifications to fall under the transportation services category: bus drivers, truck and van drivers, mechanics and garage workers.

• Bus drivers travel 4.4 billion miles every year to safely transport students to school.

• Transportation employees make up 11 percent of NEA ESP membership. That translates to more than 145,000 people.

• More than 65 percent of transportation employees work full time.

• More than 76 percent of transportation employees have attended professional development training in the past two years.

• More than 53 percent of transportation employees work with special education students.

• The following topics represent the kind of training transportation employees are looking for:

School bus student management
Communication skills
Mentoring
First Aid
Defensive driving
Computer programming

Updated: February 18, 2009 7:17 PM