Stand Up for School Bus Safety Coalition members spoke at the Hamilton County School Board meeting about "the continued dangers of Durham School Services – the company contracted to operate local school buses – and called for commonsense bus safety reforms."
The coalition includes concerned parents, drivers, community organizations, and faith leaders who aiming to improve bus safety following the tragic Durham school bus crash on Nov.
21, 2016, where six children lost their lives.
The group said, "Durham and the Hamilton County Department of Education promised to make changes after the 2016 crash. Since then, however, parents, drivers and community members have continued to voice concerns about Durham’s maintenance, training, and reporting mechanisms. They believe that the school board can do more to help make sure Hamilton County school buses are safe."
“Durham is putting our children and drivers in danger with its cavalier approach to safety and maintenance, and the school board needs to be our partner in our fight for accountability,” said Ezra Harris, President of the Woodmore Neighborhood Association. “We have documented dozens of safety-related incidents occurring on Durham school buses since the start of the year, and we believe that these are only the tip of the iceberg. Our children are at risk, and it’s time to put safety first on our buses.”
Stand Up for School Bus Safety Coalition members presented a list of recommendations to ensure school bus safety for Hamilton County children, calling on the school board and Durham to:
- Establish a safety hotline administered by the school system that parents, teachers, workers and community members can call if they see (or are worried about) a safety issue on a Hamilton County School District bus.
- Provide a yearly school bus training for all students who ride on school buses on bus safety including bus evacuation drills.
- Fix the broken system in place for dealing with students who misbehave on school buses and distract drivers.
- Create a community taskforce to review and monitor, and if necessary recommend changes to current procedures and practices regarding:
- bus maintenance;
- driver and monitor ability to address situations where they believe the condition of the bus or any other circumstances makes driving a route unsafe;
- fixing the broken system applicable to seriously misbehaving students on school buses;
- update the Hamilton County Schools Transportation Policy and ensure that drivers and monitors receive it and get training on it.
Rev. Jeffrey Evans of the Abundant Church of God in Christ was one of the first responders on the scene of the 2016 bus crash as a chaplain for the Chattanooga Fire Department.
He said, “Durham’s oversights on safety and maintenance have wreaked havoc on our community, and parents and students are still suffering. We are calling on the school board to review our list of recommendations and help hold Durham accountable. We are ready to work together to make sure all our children have a safe ride to and from school.”
“Durham drivers have told us that for every safety issue we’ve documented here, there are countless more that management has also ignored or swept under the rug,” said Coalition member Michael Gilliland. “Too often, vehicles have faulty equipment and heating, as well as electronics that malfunction. We’re going to keep documenting these issues alongside Durham drivers. We encourage the school board to review and take action.”