A recent school bus bullying incident in the Sate of New York has drawn nationwide attention to the challenge of bullying on school buses, a challenge that is being faced by many of the school districts in this region.
According to the U.S. Department of Education, almost ten percent of bullying related to schools occurs on school buses. However, many drivers don't feel equipped to handle bullying incidents on their buses. Training materials developed by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Safe and Healthy Students is one resource that provides guidance on how bus drivers can effectively respond to and prevent bullying.
Published in June 2011, the materials are designed to help bus drivers create a safe and respectful environment on the school buses. The state-of-the-art information, which includes a palm card for drivers as an easy reference tool for actions to take, provides ways to intervene in bullying behavior, de-escalate threatening behavior, and build a supportive bus climate to prevent bullying.
Research from the National Center for Education, Evaluation and Regional Assistance indicates that, while 52.2 percent of the nation’s roughly 550,000 bus drivers believe that bullying is a serious problem on their school buses, two-thirds of the incidents go unreported. Research also shows that the older the students are, the less likely they are to report such incidents.
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