THOUGHT LEADER


Beyond the Yellow School Bus: Alternative School Transportation


Written by Linda F. Bluth, Ed.D. A


t the 2022 Transporting Students with Dis- abilities (TSD) Special Needs Conference, I had the opportunity to facilitate a presenta- tion on “Navigating the IDEA: Implementing


Appropriate Transportation Services for Children with Disabilities.” This presentation included three distin- guished panelists, my fellow TSD Tenured Faculty members Launi Schmutz-Harden, Alexandra Robinson and Susan Shutrump. It was during this presentation, I passionately advocated for the provision of safe trans- portation in all modes of school transportation for children with disabilities. I emphasized there was an urgent need for the next meeting of the 17th National Congress on Student Transportation (NCST) in May 2025 to adopt standards for all allowable school transportation vehicles serving children. The importance of alternative school transpor- tation standards being adopted at the next NCST should not be underestimated. A few days prior to attending the TSD Conference, a par-


ent called me and asked, “Now that my child is no longer assigned to a yellow school bus and is transported in a van, can you assure me that this vehicle is as safe as the yellow school bus?” My answer, with zero reluctance, was “No.” She went on to ask who can assure her that the van


that her child was being transported in was as safe as the yellow school bus. I replied, “I don’t know.” Politely, she commented she was shocked that a long-time supporter of school transportation safety had no response or con- tact information to address her concerns. Consequently, my journey to establish the necessity for NCST to address the matter of alternative transportation vehicles and school transportation safety begun. Meeting this goal was an unyielding commitment. In the January 2023 School Transportation News


issue, Ryan Gray’s Editor’s Take, titled “Yellow or Not, Uniform Minimum Standards Are Needed,” also ad- dressed the need. He stated, “Linda Bluth advised the [TSD Conference] audience during a Nov. 11 general session on the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and transportation as a related service that the National Congress on Student Transportation (NCST) must take up the issue and set standards that these alt transportation providers are all beholden to. After all, she noted, nowhere in the IDEA is school bus mentioned, only transportation. There is a place for these companies to supplement the work of school buses, Bluth added.”


56 School Transportation News • OCTOBER 2024 Ryan’s article provided encouragement to contact


the NCST leadership and make a strong case for the inclusion of a new committee to specifically address alternative school transportation vehicles. After multiple efforts, I was pleased to learn that the Non-Tradition- al Vehicle Writing Committee, now referred to as the NCST Alternative Transportation Committee, was in place under the leadership of Tyler Bryan, the education associate for school transportation at the Delaware De- partment of Education. I was pleased to be informed that I was one of the committee’s writing team members. The membership of this writing committee includes diverse stakeholders with multiple perspectives on alter- native school transportation. Simultaneously, the National Association for Pupil


Transportation (NAPT) under the leadership of Peter Mannella, public policy and communications liaison as well as chairperson of the public policy committee, wrote a paper approved by the NAPT Board on Alterna- tive School Transportation Services. This paper contains the following statement. “NAPT believes that every entity which intends to transport children to and from school needs to meet certain standards of safety. Given the well-documented safety record that the school bus has attained, we believe that alternative transporters must rise to the same or similar standards to achieve that record for the children being transported.” This statement is a part of the NAPT position paper on


Alternative Transportation Services that is available in its entirety on the NAPT website and at stnonline.com/go/k9. As a member of this committee, I was pleased to have the opportunity to provide input. My committee involvement provided a further opportunity to advocate for inclusion of the topic Alternative Transportation Services at the upcom- ing NCST next May in Des Moines, Iowa. My never-ending agenda was to continue to challenge


the NCST to address the need for minimum standards for the use of alternative school transportation for all students. Most specifically, vulnerable individuals such as children with disabilities, homeless students and students residing in foster care that utilize alternative school transportation vehicles. I am committed to advocating for the appropriate and safe use of alternative transportation services for children with disabilities when the yellow school bus cannot meet an individual child’s needs. This decision should only be determined by the individualized educa-


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