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Bus drivers train to identify, intervene in effort to stem bullying at ORCO schools

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Hundreds of bus drivers gathered at the Orange County Convention Center Monday for training on how to identify and intervene when students are being bullied on the way to and from school.

The training session was part of a larger effort by Orange County Schools to protect students from bullying at school.

“Some kids see their bus drivers even before they see their parents,” said Nancy Lewis, Orange County Schools.

District leaders said buses are a place where bullying happens.

“Tackling bullying on buses is an important place to start,” Lewis said.

Video shown at the training session showed scenarios, such as: “Ladies, could you wait a minute please, I need to have a word with you,” and, “You've been saying some really mean things to William, and I'm going to report that to the assistant principal at your school, and I really need to see that behavior change.”

The videos shown were a far cry from videos that were released last year of fights at local schools that many parents said started with bullying.

“Bullying usually takes place where the kids can kind of hide it a little bit. So playgrounds, buses, bathrooms, and anything like that it's more likely to occur,” said Lewis.
The videos even touched on cyberbullying, and showed how bus drivers can approach student victims and perpetrators.
“A lot of times, the bus driver might notice something like a student's change in behavior,” said Lewis.
“Is it realistic for bus drivers to be able to know each of the students on the bus when they're doing so many different routes at different schools?” asked Channel 9 reporter Janai Norman. 
“Well, we certainly hope so, because anything in education, it's about building the relationship,” said Lewis.
The district couldn’t provide numbers on how often bullying takes place on Orange County buses, but Lewis said it almost certainly happens.

Cox Media Group

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