District approves new system for absences
June 25, 2009
By Laura Geggel
In response to three-year-old Shelby Boivin being left on a school bus for more than two hours earlier this month, the Snoqualmie Valley School District has implemented two changes to safeguard against similar incidents.
The morning of June 1, Boivin’s bus driver neglected to check his bus for any remaining children on the bus. When Boivin did not show up for class, her preschool teacher did not mark her absent because she thought Boivin had switched to afternoon preschool.
Another bus driver discovered Boivin more than two hours later, sitting on the hot bus. The driver gave a glass of water to the girl, who was safe and unharmed but dehydrated.
Soon after, Boivin’s mother Jennifer was waiting to meet her child at the bus stop. When she realized her child was not on the bus ride home, she called the district and they asked her to pick up her daughter.
Bus drivers are required to check their buses for children before ending their routes. Because Boivin’s driver failed to do this, the district fired him.
To ensure drivers check their buses, the district began putting signs at the back of school buses. Drivers are required to bring the signs to the front of their buses at the end of the their routes.
Snoqualmie schools spokeswoman Carolyn Malcolm said transportation department employees would be able to see the markers once the buses are parked at the transportation office between routes.
The district has also modified the system for reporting preschool absences at Snoqualmie Elementary School. Snoqualmie teachers typically report absences to the school’s main office, where the secretaries call parents whose children have an unexcused absence.
Now, preschool aides will call parents of absent children directly from the classroom. Malcolm said the school district reasoned that this new rule would allow aides to get in touch with preschool parents faster.
Reach reporter Laura Geggel at 392-6434 .221 or lgeggel@snovalleystar.com.
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This kind of thing happens in a lot of districts and unfortunately the outcome is not always a happy ending. In Manatee District we are so lucky and happy to have a Director who has all kinds of ideas about the safety of our students. We also had the signs that were put to the back of the bus and had to be brought up front after the route was finished, but drivers still were not doing it. We eventually went to the Child Reminder System in which the driver had to go to the back of the bus and either lift the emergency door handle or push a button to deactivate the system. If they try to get off the bus without doing it the horn would continue to blow until it was reactivated and then deactivated. It is a wonderful thing to have and we have not had any incidents where a student was left on the bus. Thanks Mr. Terry Palmer
The system is called “Child Checkmate.” In the State Of New Hampshire the bus driver’s school bus certificate is revoked. Many school districts terminate a dricer if a child is left on board. “A child is NOT a lunchbox!!