What’s In YOUR What’s In YOUR Emergency Emergency Plan?Plan? Presented to the Kansas State Pupil Presented to the Kansas State Pupil Transportation Association’s Fall Transportation Association’s Fall WorkshopWorkshop

September 29, 2004September 29, 2004Holiday InnHoliday Inn

Manhattan, KSManhattan, KSBy

School Bus Safety Education Unit

Kansas State Department of Education

Topeka, KS

K.A.R. 91-38-9. EMERGENCY PROCEDURES.

(a)  Each governing body shall adopt procedures to be followed by school transportation providers if confronted with an emergency situation when on the road.

What does this mean?

Well, First of All. . . We Need an Understanding of What All is

Involved.

Ingredients if you will.

Ingredients

K.A.R. 91-38-9

1. Each governing body

2. Shall Adopt Procedures

3. To Be Followed

4. School Transportation Providers

5. Confronted With an Emergency Situation

6. When on the Road

K.A.R. 91-38-9

Each governing body shall adopt procedures to be followed by school transportation providers if confronted with an emergency situation when on the road.

1.Each Governing Body: Means all 301 School Districts’ Boards of Education.

Each governing body Shall Adopt Procedures to be followed by school transportation providers if confronted with an emergency situation when on the road.

Shall Adopt Procedures: Means Must Have in Play a Set of Rules/Regulations or Methods of fulfilling a particular task . . . The WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, WHY, and HOW if you will.

Each governing body shall adopt procedures To Be Followed by school transportation providers if confronted with an emergency situation when on the road.

To Be Followed: Means to Obey, Pursue or Adhere to.

Each governing body shall adopt procedures to be followed by School Transportation Providers if confronted with an emergency situation when on the road.

School Transportation Providers: Means Either a School Bus Driver or a School Passenger Vehicle Driver.

 Each governing body shall adopt procedures to be followed by school transportation providers if Confronted With an Emergency Situation when on the road.

Confronted With an Emergency Situation: Means to Face or Oppose a Juncture or Crisis in a Position, Plight, Circumstances or Unusual “Man-Made” or “Non-Man-Made” Predicament.

Man-Made could be a Terrorists, a Hi-Jacker or Bus-Napper.

Non-Man-Made could be encountering a Tornado, Flash Flood, Blizzard, Dust Storm or Range Fire.

Each governing body shall adopt procedures to be followed by school transportation providers if confronted with an emergency situation When on the Road.

When on the Road: Means

Do Your School Transportation Providers Know What to do If and When Confronted With an Emergency Situation?

Scenario: It’s 3:40 p.m. Your Buses Are Dropping Students Off. . . Suddenly (3:50 p.m.), a Tornado, Rips Through Your District. . . All Power Lines Are Down. . . The Hardest Hit Area is Bus #13’s Route. . . Do You Know Exactly Where #13 Should Be at 3:50 p.m.? Does the Driver of #13 Know Where to Take the Students, i.e., Storm Shelter etc…etc…?

As the Transportation Supervisor for Your District, You Should Have Some Kind of Mapping for Each Bus, Either a Hard Copy or an Electronic One (remember, the Power Lines Are DOWN !).

You Should Feel Confident That EACH Driver Knows Exactly Where to Take the Students. This Goes for City Driving as Well as Rural Driving.

Flooding and Flash Floods: During extended times of heavy rain or localized torrential downpours, storm drains in cities and towns may not be able to effectively handle overflow, causing local flooding of streets. In some areas of Kansas, the city streets were not designed to handle heavy rains of rural areas. What are normally safe "low-water crossings" or "spillways" can become raging torrents in a matter of minutes.

If you must drive during periods of flood watches or warnings, it may become necessary for you to alter your normal driving route. Never attempt to drive through water over the roadway. Depth of water and strength of current are not always obvious.

If your bus becomes stranded in an area prone to flash flooding, evacuate as quickly and safely as possible, and move your passengers and yourself to higher ground. Flash flood waters can roll boulders, tear out trees, and destroy buildings. You may not always have a warning that these deadly, sudden floods are approaching.

Be especially cautious driving in flood-prone areas at night.

Would Your School Transportation Providers (Drivers) Know What To Do If They Encountered A Tornado. . .?

Do They Know Where the Farmers Storm/Tornado Shelters Are?

Or Perhaps Those Shelters Inside the City Limits?

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What About Smoke From Range Fires?

Range Fires, or Range Burning, Occurs Typically From About the First Week in April (SE KS) Through the Last Week of May (NW KS).

Does Your District Have a Plan For What a Transportation Provider Should Do When They Encounter a Typical Kansas Dust Storm?

Sometimes We Don’t Have Time to Think, “What Do I Do Now?”. . . It Will Require Some Pre-Planning and the “I Know How to Do it Right the First Time Attitude.” Because. . . Things do happen FAST ! ! ! !

Some Emergency Situations Are “MAN-MADE”. . . And We Know the Procedures to Follow. But. . . Each Given Situation is Different Than the One Before.

Some Kansas Blizzards Leave Highways With Only One Lane to Drive On & Drifts of Up to Twenty-Five Feet. Does Your Plan Explain What Your Driver is to Do if:

1. A Mechanical Break-Down Should Occur?

2. The Road Becomes “Re-Drifted” Shut?

3. A Medical Emergency Should Develop?

4. Can They “Re-Route” the Trip?

Are Your Drivers Familiar With Alternate Routes and Even Better Yet . . . The Length of Their Bus?

Summary

So Far We’ve Talked About Situations a Kansas School Bus Driver “MIGHT” Encounter. . .

1. Tornadoes

2. Dust Storms

3. Blizzards

4. Flash Floods

5. Range Fires

Add to Those the “MAN-MADE” Encounters. . .

1. Bus-nappers

2. Terrorists

3. Bomb Threats

4. Hi-Jackers

Your Transporters Have Their Hands Full. . .