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Where were you?

On Sept. 11, 2001, I was beginning my sophomore year of college in a small New England town. News spread rapidly across campus that day. Classes were canceled and a candlelight vigil was planned. The New Yorkers on campus wore particularly grim expressions that are indelibly imprinted in my memory. My parents back home in San Diego called me in my dorm room, their fear and worry barely masked in their urgent voices.

 

Until joining the SBF staff, I had never thought of what must have happened on school buses that day. Were students sent home early, affecting bus schedules? Did bus drivers console worried children? How did the events impact your operation?

 

Furthermore, what has been done in the aftermath? The Department of Homeland Security, which celebrates its fifth anniversary this year, hosts on its Website a page dedicated to School Preparedness, which lists grant funding opportunities, training resources and other links providing help for schools.

 

Among the listings is the Transportation Security Administration’s School Transportation Security Awareness page, describing a program TSA has developed in conjunction with NASDPTS, NAPT and NSTA to provide information and training to the school bus industry.

 

NSTA also addresses school bus safety on its Website, listing information on DHS Counterterrorism Awareness Workshops and other resources.

 

TSA is also working on a school bus vulnerability assessment which was due to Congress in August, but is not yet completed. TSA and DHS must both review the report before submitting it to Congress, which representatives hope to do sometime this fall. Watch SBF’s news online for updates.

 

Have you implemented any programs or training specific to terrorism and security at your operation? If so, please tell us about it in the comments or e-mail us at info@schoolbusfleet.com.

 

Safe travels,

Claire Atkinson

Senior Editor

 

Print | posted on Thursday, September 11, 2008 1:24 PM

Comments

 re: Where were you?

left by Michele at 9/18/2008 7:43 PM
I watched a documentary September 11th on the anniversary of that horrible event. I'd avoided most of the coverage after seeing the initial plane crashes and the World Trade Center collapsing so I didn't remember some of the terrifying scenes that were replayed.

Seven years ago it was a Wednesday. School had started the previous week and I had an out of town run in a bus with no AM radio so I had no idea what was going on until we pulled into the bus yard and the mechanic came over and said a plane had hit the World Trade Center. I went home and told my husband he had to turn on the news. As we sat there watching...the second plane hit. They replayed that scene over and over. It affected all of us deeply. It frightened the local school districts as well. We weren't sure what the next event would be and I don't think they knew what they would do in the event of an attack. When we went back to pick up the children the police were there guarding the building, as if terrorists would strike that small upstate school.

Some of the precautions made sense but there are still many holes in the security systems of some buildings. Such as a building that had metal detectors for the students entering the front door and a back door propped open that anyone could pass through. Or regular ed students had to walk all the way around the building to enter one door but special ed students were let in the side door. Later on to discover one of those students had brought a gun to school.

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