PCSSD promotes bus safety

LITTLE ROCK, AR - The Pulaski County Special School District is promoting National Bus Safety Week with a slogan to remind students to "Stay Back from the Yellow and Black."

The Pulaski County Special School District hasn't had any major accidents or injuries involving buses, but drivers say they deal with bad behavior on and off buses daily, and want to avoid accidents.

Superintendent Dr. Jerry Guess says school bus safety is taken seriously. Buses travel nearly 22,000 thousand miles driving 11,000 kids back and forth to school every day. "We have more than 300 buses using 3,000 gallons of diesel fuel each day on our routes."

Besides purchasing 24 new buses for the fleet, the district is focusing more attention this week on bus safety. Students are provided with bookmarks, pencils, and coloring books with safety rules on them to serve as school bus safety reminders. In the classroom, safety presentations include 15 minute age appropriate videos on school bus safety. Within the videos, there is a segment that deals directly with the danger zones around the bus.

Bus drivers say kids can be unruly. Janice Mosby says yelling, screaming, and fighting can sometimes get out of hand. In Mosby's 4 years of driving a bus for the district, she says she's at her wits end balancing paying attention to the road and what's happening in the mirror behind her. "Driving a bus and the safety of me and the children is my first and number one priority."

Dr. Guess says any bad behavior will be dealt with. Parents, bus drivers, and students are encouraged to report any problems to school administrators immediately.

When issues arise on buses, there are safety measures in place for drivers. They are to turn the bus around and go back to the nearest school to notify school administrators, and if necessary call for law enforcement.