School buses with no contact radios (to reach dispatch)?!?
By lisado
@lisado (1227)
United States
October 15, 2007 8:09am CST
I have had problems with my son's school transportation system for several years. He was diagnosed with Autism when he was 2 1/2, and is non-verbal. He rides a special education bus. The bus was a hour late today. I called transportation and asked where the bus was. I didn't want to have to wake my 18 month old, if I didn't have to, to take my almost 9 year old to school. Dispatch didn't know for sure and the bus doesn't have a radio. I asked if Cindy was driving. She didn't know. I said well, I know she has a cell phone but I don't have her number (she just took over for our regular driver last week as our regular driver had to take personal time off). She said well, they can't use them while they're driving. Duh. I said, she has an aide on the bus. She checked and said the aide doesn't have a phone so there is no way to contact them.
I said okay, at the risk of sounding like a witch, what happens when there is a problem on the bus?? How do they contact anyone for help?? She didn't have an answer.
Two years ago my son was "misplaced" when we had a subsitite driver. He was supposed to be home at 3pm. By 4:30pm I was scared to death and transportation had no idea where he was. They couldn't reach the driver. At 5pm he was finally brought home. The driver had went and picked up kids from another school and started his other route, since we lived quite a way from the school, and left our son for last. He wasn't supposed to, but he did anyway, and there was no way to contact him to find out what was going on. I called all over creation the next day, reaming people for this, and I was assured that they had hand held radios they should have been using and that this should have never happened. They assured me that it would never happen again. Today, once again, I am told the driver had no radio. While my son wasn't on the bus, he is the last one on and the first one off on this route, the problem is still there and could happen to someone else.
Do you know if your child's bus has radio contact of any kind in case there is a problem on the bus? I assumed all busses have them, but they don't. It's something you might want to check out since there have been so many violent problems with kids lately.
2 people like this
3 responses
@carmelanirel (20942)
• United States
15 Oct 07
Yes we have a contact radio, lisado. and our school district is so bad off financially that for 2 years they didn't have bus service for the high school students. So why your school doesn't have that feature is beyond me, I would bring that up in a PTA meeting or find someone else who can bring it up. It is too dangerous anymore for a school bus not being able to contact someone in an emergency..
@lisado (1227)
• United States
16 Oct 07
A lot of the busses are new, so I was surprised to find that they didn't have radios. Growing up, every bus in the district had radios, so I assumed these did, as well. Until they "lost" my son I didn't know that they didn't. I had never heard of such a thing. There are so many schools in our area that it isn't funny. They have to stagger when the schools start and end because there are so many. I have three elementry schools within 3 miles of my home, not to mention all of the middle and high schools. There always seems to be student or bus accident, so why they DON'T have them is beyond me.
I did find out that the driver had a cell phone, but apparently dispatch didn't know, or they just didn't want to tell me since they said they didn't know who was driving the bus and that they couldn't get in contact with the person. They seriously need to get it together down there!!
1 person likes this
@carmelanirel (20942)
• United States
16 Oct 07
Yes, I would definetly say something, that's too dangerous.
@lisado (1227)
• United States
17 Oct 07
They didn't bother to call me back at all, so I guess that means I get to call them again, which makes me madder than a hornet! The lady that took the message knew how ticked off I was and I am sure she relayed it to her supervisor. I guess I'll have to start making nasty phone calls again tomorrow. Might just call the local TV stations and see if they are interested in doing a story about it for the "On Your Side" segment they have, where they look into the different things that concern the people in the area. Scams, high traffic area issues and such. My throwing a stink obviously didn't make a difference. It won't stop me from throwing a hissy fit about it again, but maybe if the new gets involved, so other parents know about it, too, something will get done.
UGH! Why does everything have to be such a fight?? I am trusting them with my child's life! Do they not understand my concern over this?!? Anything could happen at anytime and no one would know, and half of the time they don't even know who is driving the bus! :O Totally unacceptable to me.
@wiccania (3360)
• United States
16 Oct 07
My son's bus has a radio. I also make it a point to make sure that the driver knows my son is Autistic and non-verbal. Last year there were no problems whatsoever, except on the first day. The assistant on the bus let my son off at the stop before his stop. Fortunately, the mother of one of the other kids who got off at that stop waited with him, looking for his parent to come get hims. The driver picked me up and took me back to the other stop, where I got my son and we rode back home together. That never happened again, but when it was that assistant on the bus again (they rotated) I always got nervous.
This year the only problem they had was a miscommunication and my son's teacher called me to let me know he'd be home late. He's in an Autism class at a public school, so when a student's bus arrives, the classroom is called and told that the bus for ____ is there. My son's name is similar to another boy in his class. The only difference is a G in one name and a B in the other... which sound the same on the phone. The para who answered the phone thought that they asked for the other boy, who wasn't in school that day. The para told them that and after the bus left, they realized the mistake. So they called me and let me know, called the bus back, and got my son on the bus and headed home. He was only about 45 minutes late. And now when the office calls for the students to come to the bus they use first and last names, not just first names.
@lisado (1227)
• United States
16 Oct 07
They know about my son's Autism and being non-verbal. We have a seperate department of transperation for the special needs kids. The other kids on my son's bus are also Autistic. Some higher functioning, some not. They usually have an aide on the bus, but the past few days they haven't had, which also ticks me off since the driver has to get out of her seat to seat the kids. Luckily all of the kids stay seated once they are sat down, but I know that that isn't always the case. One year my son was one the bus with a kid that kept trying to go out the emergency exit, so when there wasn't an aide I wasn't happy about it, but they told me that they didn't HAVE to have an aide on the bus, that it was a priveledge. That may be, but I see it as a safety measure for my son since he could be hurt by someone else's child, ya know?
@BinKsBaBy (505)
• United States
15 Oct 07
Wow I can not beleive that! Our busses do have radio's and they do get work cellphones so that they can pull over and call 911 or call the main office if needed. They dont call parents directly but they will dispatch radio if a parent is not at the stop and if they are going to be at the stop late and then a secertary will call your contact numbers in the order that we supplied them with for me its home cell then my hubby. I know this because we have missed my daughters buss and I ran out without my phone and then they called hubby LOL! We also have cameras on all the busses and we are a pretty poor district as far as around our area anyway. I think especially because your son is on the special needs bus I would make a point to mention the problems that you have had and the fact that they dont have radios, because I am guessing there could be kids on the bus that could need emmdiate medical attention at any given time (like if they had a seizer or ect.) and so if they have no way to call 911 or call the dispatch for help thats just plan DUMB! (in my opinion) and if they used their own phone to call 911 shouldnt the parents of the child be informed that hey your child is on the way to a hospital, I am sorry that this is happening I hope that you can get a better comunication system worked out and soon. Keep us all posted!
@lisado (1227)
• United States
16 Oct 07
My son's bus doesn't have a camera but I know that all conversations are taped. I also found out that the driver was given a radio by the sub she was filling in for, but that the radio was broken, so she might as well not have had one. It didn't even have an on/off switch and wouldn't hold a charge. I felt better knowing she did have a cell phone so she could at least call for help. I wasn't happy, though, that they couldn't tell me who was driving the bus because they weren't sure.
No one has called me back, either, which seriously has ticked me off.
