Lexington-Richland School District Five is launching a new initiative to teach students about school bus safety.
“We realized that because of the pandemic many students have never ridden a school bus and many have very few hours riding on a school bus,” said School District Five Transportation Coordinator Wil Williams. “We wanted to offer students a way to learn the safety procedures or refresh their memories of riding the bus and make sure they know the expectations on how they should behave on the school bus.”
The District’s Transportation Department launched a pilot program at Seven Oaks Elementary School. They took a team of bus drivers on November 16 to teach students about safety procedures and rules to follow on the bus and at the bus stop. The students watched a video presentation followed by hands-on lessons and drills inside the school bus to learn about bus safety.
“We have a lot of sports and activities across our district that require students to use buses for transportation, so this training not only benefits students who rely on the bus for transportation to and from school but for these afterschool and field trip opportunities as well,” Williams said. “Having this knowledge of how to ride the bus safely is invaluable to students and can provide peace of mind to parents and guardians.”
The district plans to implement the program districtwide in the coming weeks.
