Fair Warning

Welcome to my blog, 'The School Bus.'  My hope is that what you read in my articles, guest articles and the resulting participant comments are helpful to you in the effort to help keep kids safe.

On occasion This blog may bring out of the closet industry issues and potential remedies that some educators, and industry bureaucrats would prefer left quietly to the expertise of industry experts, including school officials, related government services spokespersons, and their lobbyists.

The idea of the school bus driver, or a parent, or some rouge industry or education expert voicing an opinion in public may be considered somewhat distasteful, especially when revealing a truth that leaves schools and the industry vulnerable to questions.

That said, this blog charges ahead sometimes bulldozing the politics, political correctness, the mollycoddling, indifference, to engaging the neglect of children, the hostile treatment of school bus drivers and also parents, even the maltreatment of transportation mangers and school officials where discovered ... and onward into risk territory addressing some of the most sensitive issues in the school bus industry.

Some of my articles may come across as too terse, even insulting on occasion. Obviously such is not the intention of this author. The full, complete, and focused attention is presenting issues with discussion that reminds us all of an essential expectation:

A shared responsibility to help keep children safe.

Also, please be aware and forgiving that my punctuation and grammar may be off on occasion, a sad commentary of my public education where very nice teachers failed to demand better from my abilities. It was not until high school that two English teachers took a personal interest in improving my skills, but that was not enough for a professional writer. Still not corrected decades later I struggle with grammar and punctuation on occasion and continue to look for methods to improve my skills.

If you are in the same boat please do not let that stop you from engaging in discussion. The reality that you may not know a correct spelling, or correct grammar, or correct punctuation, or all three need not be defended, and must not deter you from providing your thoughts. We can figure out what you are presenting, perhaps asking when uncertain, and any posts that attack you personally can be deleted.

A blog this radical does seem to need some rules of conduct:  It is correct and encouraged to agree with a message you like, or disagree with a message you have issue with, backed up with your remedy. To waste everyone’s time calling an opposing participant a moron or some other insult can not be tolerated if a healthy blog with useful ideas and remedies is to prevail.

Please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other blog participants personally, and keep your language decent. Although we try to monitor posts not relevant to school education issues and school bus safety please feel free to report abuse if a comment violates these standards.

And so it begins ...

Please Note: The articles I write may be longer than most, more like a magazine article or book chapter than a quick snip newspaper story. Since I do not charge for my industry photography or other insights and skills, there is no budget to pay for a professional editor. I use my blog area to organize my articles, there may be more detail, misuse of punctuation, and some wordiness typical in a 'raw' story or a 'draft' - what an editor might read before editing a story. A good editor is entitled to compensation for services, so what can a writer do when no budget for that? Write anyway. Write - Write - Write, and when a story warrants interest, a great editor may edit and publish in his or her magazine. I hope more will link my stories to help increase the odds of a quality media editor publishing the story.

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Mr. Kraemer brought a history of sales marketing research and consumer behavior studies with him when he began driving school bus in 1989. He remained with the same employer more than 20 years before retiring. There is no retirement age for helping keep kids safe. He continues to work in a retired capacity for the same employer on various student management projects to help provide safer, calmer school bus enviornments for childdren, and a hostile-free workplace behind the wheel for the drivers. The grace of that employer provided Kraemer the latitude to explore remedies that work well with k-12 on the school buses. Kraemer found middle school age the most interesting to transport, an age group that resists direction yet also craves structure in their environment from adults they can trust to mean what they say. He has written about his adventures in discovering the brilliance and the passion of children attempting prematurely to break through the adult barrier and the skill adults must develop to work successfully with schoolchildren riding the school buses. His website at http://www.2safeschools.org/ was established on the Internet in 2000 to help save one child's life and has remained on task since that time.

IMPORTANT NOTICE

For Educational Use Only

All 2safeschools presentations, training evaluations, manuals, other offerings are offered only as guidelines for development of school bus driver, school staff, parent and children training programs. All individuals and sources involved in presenting these guides accept no liability for its content. Where any question exists, concerning implementing these materials, first check with your school board or your state's PTS for approval.

Copyright 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 by James Kraemer, 2safeschools

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