Beaufort County schools tell bus riders to shape up

Plans are shaping up for the Beaufort County School District’s first year of operating its own bus fleet, including stricter punishments for kids who misbehave on school buses.

As of this month, the district is taking a three-strikes approach to bus discipline, according to Superintendent Jeff Moss’ recent update to his administrative regulations. If students commit three Level II violations or higher on the bus, they can lose their riding privileges for the remainder of the school year, the new rule states.

Previously, administrators could suspend unruly riders only for up to 10 days at a time, resulting in some students being punished frequently over the course of the year, only to return to the school buses where they were causing problems, Moss said.

“The bus behavior on some buses has, in my opinion, just gotten out of hand,” he said. “I think we need something to really protect all the kids on the bus. You really don’t want one student or two students endangering the lives of all the other riders.”

Additional training for bus drivers in the Student Code of Conduct will also be a major part of the district’s transition from private-sector operations by Durham School Services to in-house operations. The school board approved the change in April after Moss said he could spend just about $5.6 million on busing next year, versus the $6.5 million Durham had asked for its 2016-17 contract.

The district does not know how many students have received bus suspensions in past year and said it could not provide those statistics this week.

Overall, about 6 percent of all disciplinary infractions took place on school buses last school year and in 2012-13, according to district annual reports.

That figure spiked to 15 percent in 2013-14 because the number of bus incidents grew much more quickly than the number of total violations — increasing from 230 to 773 — while the number of total violations went from 3,975 to just about 5,000.

Moss couldn’t explain the anomaly but said he suspects inconsistent enforcement is one factor. As part of bringing bus operations in-house next year, the district will train all its bus drivers, old and new, on everything from differentiating levels of offenses to interacting with parents.

That’s lacking right now, Moss said.

Some bus drivers would write up students who looked at them the wrong way. Others wouldn’t get involved unless “blood is flowing,” Moss said.

“We don’t want it to depend on the day the driver’s having,” Moss said. “Students don’t really know how to handle that. If we as adults can be fair and consistent, I think our students will respond accordingly.”

Level I offenses, such as breaking cafeteria and parking rules or lying, were and are still punishable by a single bus suspension. But only Level II-IV violations, such as gambling, sexual harassment and using profanity with school staff, will count as strikes toward a year-long bus suspension.

And even a first offense of the most serious violations, such as fighting and weapons possession, can still cost students their bus privileges for the rest of the year, Moss said.

New leadership

Kerry Mayo was selected last week as the district’s new transportation director and will oversee the transition from private-sector bus operations to a district-run system.

Mayo previously managed the district’s school bus operations for First Student, the private bus provider Beaufort County schools used prior to Durham. He then left the county to work as a First Student contract manager in Savannah and was later named the company’s Atlantic Southeast Regional Manager.

He also managed UPS operations for 14 years in Beaufort County.

“There’s always going to be some uncertainty when an organization undergoes a significant change,” Mayo said in a news release.

“I’m excited to be back home,” Mayo said. “The professional and personal relationships I’ve built here over the years have been very positive.”

This story was originally published June 13, 2016 at 10:54 AM with the headline "Beaufort County schools tell bus riders to shape up."