Title: No Bullies on Board: Putting the Brakes on School Bus Bullying
Author:
Section/SPIG: School Health Education and Services
Issue Date:
Each year in the United States, 440,000 school buses transport 24 million students to and from schools. Collectively these buses travel 4.3 billion miles daily, with only one adult to get them to their destination safely. When investigating the safety concerns, it is easy to find specifications for brakes, steering, exhaust, engine performance, lights, and other functions related to safety inspections. However, one of the most serious problems on buses has little to do with mechanical functions, and everything to do with the passengers themselves.
In recent years there has been a sharp increase in violence on school buses. Not only are students inflicting harm verbally, physically, emotionally and sexually on one another, but there is also an increase in bus incidents involving parents. There is little data on specific acts of violence on buses. However, there are more isolated reports on local and national news regarding shootings, stabbings, and other serious harassment. In working with thousands of children of all ages to reduce and prevent bullying behaviors, BJC School Outreach has developed a survey question to determine the areas where students encounter bullying most frequently. The results rank buses as the number two place for bullying, second only to the playground. The bus is noted by nearly 25 percent as the place for serious incidents of bullying. What are some factors that contribute to this significant problem?
First of all, we are asking the driver to be concerned with getting children to their destination safely without collisions. That is a difficult task! Drivers cannot always stop when conflicts occur, and many are on a tight schedule because their bus transports students to several schools. Bus drivers must obtain a chauffeur’s license to drive a bus, but that license does not involve training in behavior management. Many drivers are simply not equipped to handle the unsupervised behaviors they are faced with. Traffic control and behavior control are completely unrelated and incompatible.
Parents, students, teachers, administrators, and non-teaching staff (including bus drivers) need to be aware of what constitutes bullying and support the position that schools -– and buses –- are bully-free zones. While zero tolerance policies are important so everyone understands the consequences of bullying, it is essential to build strong positive relationships as primary prevention.
Having cameras on buses cannot solve the entire problem. When recently interviewing students about the effectiveness of cameras, they reported, “If you can’t see the lens, then the camera can’t see you. Anyway, lots of buses don’t have film in the camera.” Yet these same students report that when there is a bond between the driver and the students, behavior tends to be more positive. “Why would anyone want to be mean when the driver is so nice?” Working to improve the overall climate in schools and developing a positive school culture is essential to safety for students both in school and on buses.
Change cannot happen without support from all sources. Some of the key points to making those changes are:
• Define bullying and make sure everyone knows the definition: one person or more intending harm, humiliation and/or intimidation to others with words and/or actions. There are five types of bullying: verbal, emotional, physical, gender, and more recently, cyber (use of the computer).
• Create immediate and consistent consequences for misbehavior; post guidelines on buses.
• Train drivers to de-escalate aggression, and know where police and fire stations are along the route in the event they need help; also train them on safety procedures when weapons are present.
• Recognize the importance of dealing with low-level aggression such as name-calling, put downs, or negative humor in preventing more serious offenses.
• Have assigned seats.
• Praise and reward appropriate behavior.
• Get parents involved; have a “meet the driver” session before the year gets started to discuss mutual expectations,
• Consider adding another adult on the bus; this can be a volunteer or paid staff.
• Give daily reports of incidents – a bad experience on the way to school can affect the entire day for some children.
• When it is difficult to determine the fault, have all students write out statements privately so the truth can emerge.
• Support training and keep communications open with drivers and building administrators.
• Set policy that supports positive steps rather than punishments.
• Help troublemakers become peacemakers by giving them responsibility.
• Train students to be vigilant, caring witnesses – teach empathy; if students take responsibility for safety, they can work together to stop violence.
• Develop incentives for positive behavior.
• Bring bus drivers into classrooms to allow students to relate to them in a different environment.
With acts of violence on the increase, bus safety will continue to be a growing concern with regard to bullying. Perhaps if schools could create a diversion for bus passengers, such as classical music or even television (with properly monitored programming), students might remain calmer. Organizing a bus committee comprised of students, staff, drivers, and parents can be an opportunity to create a plan that ensures safety and well-being of all passengers, and will help improve school performance. Students who arrive at school without witnessing or experiencing incidents of violence will be ready for the academics that await them in school. When buses are friendlier environments, and drivers can focus on traffic and safety, then everyone wins.
Lynne Lang is a school-community-health educator for BJC HealthCare in St Louis. She writes and implements violence prevention curriculum for students and the adults who work with them. She holds a BS in Communications and her MS is in Health Management.
Thursday, Nov. 3, 2005, BJC HealthCare School Outreach & Youth Development is joining the Girl Scout Council to sponsor a conference on Female Aggression. Details to follow -- anyone wishing to be on the mailing list, contact Lynne Lang, BJC School Outreach & Youth Development, <LML1435@BJC.ORG>, or (314)286-0504.