Every year, Cameron Chesser, director of Spencer County Schools Transportation, creates an improvement plan for his department.
This year, Chesser is focusing on Emergency Situations and Response, as well as Student Discipline. The school system has hired 24 new drivers, and Chesser’s goal is to continue upgrading the department year-by-year.
Last week, his team had a chance to experience what it’s like to be involved in a major bus accident.
“As a leader, investing in your people is one of the most important things you can do. If you’ve watched the news, or scrolled social media lately, you’ve seen numerous issues with busing students, bus accidents, bus fires, and driver and student misconduct. We’re trying to stay in front of all that,” said Chesser.
They completed exercises on:
• how to quickly and safely evacuate a school bus that has been flipped
• how to exit the bus while it was filled with smoke
• how to cut a driver’s seat belt, or a student safety vest
• the proper techniques of using a fire extinguisher, and putting out a fire.
“We transport about 2,500 kids per day, and travel over 700,000 miles per year. Each day, it is our job to transport those children to and from school safely. I want to make sure everyone knows what to do and when to do it,” said Chesser.
According to Chesser, it is important to focus on the day-to-day operations of transportation, but it is more than just having wheels on the road, and drivers in the seat. “We always have to prepare for the worst, by having a plan in place, and having our drivers know what to do, and when to do it, possibly saving a life one day.”
The training was a joint effort by Spencer County Public Schools, Taylorsville Spencer County Fire Department, Taylorsville Police, Spencer County Sheriff’s Office, Department of Homeland Security, and Peytona Garage.
“If there’s anything that I can guarantee Spencer County, it’s that your child is in good hands,” Chesser said.