A positive HISD story...in the Dallas Morning News
Did you know that HISD bus drivers have been through a terrorism-training awareness program? I didn't, but the Dallas Morning News has the details:
Since the Beslan attack in September, transportation officials across Texas have been quietly building a loose network of trained personnel to improve school security. They've been assisted by the Texas Department of Public Safety and trainers from Highway Watch, a national network of 100,000 truckers trained to pass on "intelligence tidbits" to the Department of Homeland Security.
"Even though none of the news is indicating that a school transport fleet is a particular target, I don't think you can underestimate the importance of taking reasonable precautions," said Bonnie Russell, Houston ISD's executive general manager of transportation. "We recognize if there were an attempt to target a school bus, it would be such an emotional target for the nation."
All 1,000 of Houston's bus drivers have been trained. Dallas County Schools, which runs buses for DISD and other local districts, will start training its 1,400 drivers in September, said Ray Lanoux, director of risk management for the agency.
[snip]
Although she took her training last year, Ms. Bolden, the Houston driver, still examines her bus carefully twice each day the way she was trained. First, she does a once-over of the vehicle, making sure nothing unusual is attached to the underside before starting it up.
"They could use anything," she said. "It could be as small as a perfume bottle or a ring box."
She pumps the pedals to be sure there's been no tampering, and the belly of the bus squeaks and coughs. Next she checks under the seats, makes sure the windows work and goes outside to examine the fuel line and the battery box.
The entire process takes about 10 minutes and was worthwhile to memorize, Ms. Bolden said.
To be fair, the Chronicle did do a story on this topic last year, but I find it curious that we have seen several stories since the London bombings on how Metro is prepared for terrorism (including today's SWAT/SORT story), yet nothing on HISD's ongoing anti-terrorism training. And as the DMN story points out, after Beslan, school districts and schools need to be prepared.
(For information's sake, HISD transports 45,000 students twice a day.)
RELATED: HISD Bus Drivers Trained To Watch For Terrorism (KPRC-2)
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/15/05 11:35 AM | Houston Miscellany | Print | Comments (0)
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