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largebus
Advanced Member
USA
468 Posts |
 Posted - 08/08/2001 : 06:10:29 AM
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How many bus monitors/aides/assistants does your contracter/district employ? Are there enough? How do you "get one" for your bus?
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Bus Boy 39
Top Member
USA
1315 Posts |
Posted - 08/08/2001 : 06:30:20 AM
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None of our drivers get aides/assistants for their buses.
"Blue Birds Rule!" |
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wagonmaster
Top Member
USA
2298 Posts |
Posted - 08/08/2001 : 07:16:41 AM
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We use them on all "special needs" buses. There are about 175 special needs/wheel chair lift buses in our district. Regular buses don't get an attendant.
Joe
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Bus Boy 39
Top Member
USA
1315 Posts |
Posted - 08/08/2001 : 07:42:28 AM
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Our "special need" drivers don't even get any aides. We have three special need buses going to my school and all of them are mini buses, so I guess my contractor feels as if the drivers don't need aides because they are driving such a small bus.
"Blue Birds Rule!" |
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John Farr
Top Member
USA
642 Posts |
Posted - 08/08/2001 : 1:34:08 PM
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We have 12 for 40 sped routes. In addition, several students require their own nurse, who will ride the bus for them. The nurses rarely assist with other student problems, though. Bus attendants are only provided if required in a student's IEP.
Edited by - john farr on 08/08/2001 1:36:09 PM |
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BusBoss
Senior Member
105 Posts |
Posted - 08/08/2001 : 4:42:10 PM
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All our passengers are special needs and each has a bus monitor everyday.
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BusBoy
Top Member
USA
2042 Posts |
Posted - 08/08/2001 : 8:07:59 PM
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The way kids are today, I think all the bad routes should have an assistant!! To many kids to the back of one driver!! There seems to be an aid in the classroom, why not the bus too!!
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Busrepair
Senior Member
121 Posts |
Posted - 08/09/2001 : 12:05:00 PM
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All of our buses have an aide. Even so there are many things that go undetected. My personal feeling is every bus should have an aide and a video camera system. We have had passengers file against an aide just because they do not like them and then you get into the he said she said. If there were video cameras also this would easily put an end to such problems.The aide should be there to help the driver with situations of tying in wheelchairs properly and student behavior, the camera should be there to back up the aide and driver when things are filed or when the diciplinary action has to go above their position.
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largebus
Advanced Member
USA
468 Posts |
Posted - 01/19/2002 : 11:42:02 AM
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I think an attendent on buses would be a huge help for the driver-it would allow the driver to focus on driving and allow the little angelic passengers to be watched more easily.
"If it's long, wide and high with wheels it's a bus. If it's yellow with black stripes it's a school bus"
Edited by - largebus on 01/19/2002 11:42:23 AM |
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littlebit
Advanced Member
431 Posts |
Posted - 01/20/2002 : 9:34:37 PM
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Here the special ed buses have aides on them. The city's primary buses get them for a week when the kindergarten kids start. They are supposed to help with names and new addresses and to try to keep the other kids in line so I can get used to all the new stops. These aides are just school teachers who end up sitting and taking up airspace. I would rather do my job without one.
littlebit #63
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largebus
Advanced Member
USA
468 Posts |
Posted - 02/27/2002 : 11:24:20 AM
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Most districts around us have about 4 or 5 attendants, generally called monitors. They are trained and treated in most cases as paraprofessionals, like teacher aides or hall monitors. Some are not even listed as being part of the Transp. Dept. Most districts also have at least 2 subsitute bus monitors. They are primarily for special education buses and/or students on students on regular buses, although they are rotated on kindergarten routes at the beginning of the year. I think they may be neccessary for elementary discipline but not for high school-those students should be kicked off for discipline issues. Transportation is a privilige for most kids, not a right.
Getting them there is the first-and the easiest/hardest-part. |
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JK
Top Member
USA
7307 Posts |
Posted - 02/27/2002 : 1:17:23 PM
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Except for special ed, where an IEP calls for an aide on board, or a temporary situation on a main-stream bus, I think the money better spent training main-stream bus drivers in student management and violence prevention. And, upping wages to attract career-minded professional drivers.
Simply putting an aide on the bus does little to nothing to permanently reduce violence and make the environment less hostile on the bus. Kids soon enough figure out how to make mischief work for them. But if the aide is to be trained, why not simply properly train and support the bus drivers in the first place and kick-up the wage to keep experienced drivers? Imagine that. (jk)
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largebus
Advanced Member
USA
468 Posts |
Posted - 02/27/2002 : 3:24:04 PM
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Good points jk (although another school bus site said the opposite-it's the drivers job to DRIVE the bus and a monitor is a great idea to control the "precious cargo"). Why train aides anyway...just take a paraprofessional from the schools or a special aide, which is what they are anyway.
Getting them there is the first-and the easiest/hardest-part. |
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kd4jfd
Top Member
USA
1170 Posts |
Posted - 02/27/2002 : 5:01:17 PM
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deleted copy
Edited by - kd4jfd on 02/27/2002 5:04:42 PM |
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kd4jfd
Top Member
USA
1170 Posts |
Posted - 02/27/2002 : 5:02:02 PM
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The lastest issue of SBF said that the law specifies an aide/monitor for headstart buses. Do you think that if I showed that to my T/D he would assign me one? I pick up a headstart student on my base route.
349 - A repair work in progress! |
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JK
Top Member
USA
7307 Posts |
Posted - 03/01/2002 : 09:27:39 AM
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quote:
Good points jk (although another school bus site said the opposite-it's the drivers job to DRIVE the bus and a monitor is a great idea to control the "precious cargo"). Why train aides anyway...just take a paraprofessional from the schools or a special aide, which is what they are anyway.
Getting them there is the first-and the easiest/hardest-part.
Well, sure. A paraprofessional sounds like a great idea, at least until realizing that too often classrooms with aides, playgrounds with aides, hallways with aides all continue to result in hostile and otherwise unsafe school environments.
Look at the incredible amount of times that aides on the buses still left sleeping kids on board. Even really big kids.
ABC aired a bus video -- I don't recall from what school district, the accent in the voices suggested somewhere in the south -- where the kids were completely out of control, even with two adults on board that bus.
On school buses where the bus driver is not the authority on that bus, and the aide is not given that authority, then it should be no surprise that the kids still end up the authority on that bus.
Pay and train professional bus drivers, support the bus drivers, establish the bus drivers authority on their buses, and there is no longer the need for an aide -- except for temporary situations.
I do agree that spec ed buses should have an aide (with CNA credentials) on board. (I would think those buses should be labeled med-buses.) Mainstream bus drivers need an attractive pay scale, violence prevention training and effective support. (jk)
Edited by - jk on 03/01/2002 09:36:14 AM |
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John Farr
Top Member
USA
642 Posts |
Posted - 03/02/2002 : 7:56:17 PM
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I believe that bus attendants are not needed on big buses. The driver is responsible for sometimes 90 - 97 passengers. If the driver needs help we send a trainer along to help the driver to learn proper student management techniques. We also have mandatory individualized student management classes with drivers that seem to be struggling. I attended one last week and the class is excellent.
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mr.dave
Advanced Member
USA
414 Posts |
Posted - 03/03/2002 : 05:29:37 AM
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Seat on the seat, back on the back, feet on the floor. It's the only way to ride safely on a schoolbus. An aide walking on a moving bus is a danger to hissself and others. An adult aide would have to sit in one place when the bus is in gear. The student who wants to act the fool would not sit by the aide. So, the aide would just fuss from another part of the bus. The main use of an aide would be as a witness to back the driver's complaints of misconduct. If the school administation does not back the driver, would it back the aide? I think not. Train the driver. Support the driver. Pay the driver. Let the fool's parent drive him to and from school. Then schoolbuses will be safer. shalom dave
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wagonmaster
Top Member
USA
2298 Posts |
Posted - 03/03/2002 : 05:39:21 AM
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Often times an attendant isn't just for control purposes. We use ours to assist the driver in loading/unloading and securing wheelchairs in buses so equipped. There are many special ed. kids that need looking after once they are secured. In my mind that's the real purpose for an aide or attendant, not just "crowd control". Although good points, no matter how well trained or paid the drivers are, they can't be driving AND looking after these special needs youngsters. Attendants belong on these buses.
Joe
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mr.dave
Advanced Member
USA
414 Posts |
Posted - 03/03/2002 : 12:28:51 PM
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I agree with wagonmaster. All our special needs buses have aides or monitors. I believe some of these should be paid as much as the bus drivers, allthough they are not. Aides on large wheelchair buses do way more work than the bus drivers, and I beleave are grossly under-appreciated and undercompensated. What I was saying is that regular schoolbuses do not have need of aides/monitors, but instead need better driver support, and training to acheve acceptable student conduct. shalom-dave
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Topic |
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Aides/Monitors
