Hi, I have a favor to ask.

My children are in a 4K program run by our local public school district for kids who are not on track to be kindergarten-ready by next fall. Bus services are provided for the children. They use a regular full-size bus. The children are not restrained in any way (seatbelts, carseats, etc.).

All of my kids have some core-muscle strength issues, but especially my son. This means that he often falls out of chairs. I know that sounds kind of weird, but even just sitting at the kitchen table, he will commonly just fall on the floor. I expressed my concern about the schoolbus seating at the beginning of the year, but was assured that they had never had an issue, there was another adult on the route to watch the kids in addition to the driver, buses are safer than cars, etc.

As I should have predicted, yesterday James fell out of the seat. Apparently the driver went down a hill and turned, and he lost his balance. Fell directly on his head. He was not seriously injured - they got medical attention and all that and he was OK. But it is only a matter of time before this happens again, so something has to change, right?

I talked to the transportation people this morning, and told them that in many school districts, children in public preschool programs are in carseats or seatbelts. They are very interested in seeing what other districts provide.

If you have a picture of your child(ren) in the school's transportation restraint system, could you post it or send it to me? Also, can you tell me a little about the logistics? How much does it slow down the bus route? Who latches the kids in? (I am wondering if much like preschools won't strap your kids in, bus drivers won't want to do it either.)

THANKS!

BGG born 4/25/05 at 31w1d




New baby girl born 9/19/06

I don't have any photos, but my neighbor when we lived in Memphis had her son in the preschool program and he rode the bus in a car seat. The parents had to buckle/unbuckle at pick-up/drop-off. I have no idea who did it at school. I never asked. They did only do this for preschool kids. I never saw them do anything like this for older kids, unless they had an IEP and were on the short bus.

Cindy
Paul and Andrew
Kristen, Rachel and Michael

how could you use a carseat without a seatbelt? what attaches it to the seat?

Nancy

mom to beautiful BBG triplets, born February 2002 at 33 wks, 4 days

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It's this thing called a camwrap that goes all the way around the bus seat.

BGG born 4/25/05 at 31w1d




New baby girl born 9/19/06

Our preschool busses were the small busses and there was a seat belt and each and every seating position (regular lap belt). All children were required to be buckled in.

Some of the seats in each bus also had belts that were meant to attach to a harness. The kids who needed a harness were supplied one by the bus company on the first day. Then they buckled the harness the kid was wearing to the special seatbelt in those seating positions. The harnesses were HEAVY and I imagine maybe not a great idea for a child with a core-muscle strength problem -- although then again, it might build up those muscles!

Sorry...don't have pics to share.

Here is a website with an example of a harness that works with ANY school bus seat -- but the school bus needs to be equipped with lap belts already.

http://www.ezonpro.com/products/schoolBus/kidCam.shtml

And another site with various types of school base safety restraints:

http://www.besi-inc.com/ourproducts.htm

BBB born 7/26/04 at 35 weeks

The bus Anna rides to Kindergarten (the same one she and John both rode to Preschool) has fold down car seats with 5 point harness. For the kids that are too big there is some harness that they put on and hook to the seats. We haven't used those so don't know exactly how they work.

I hope they figure out something soon for you.

Jane
Anna/Emma/John/^James^ (9/24/03-9/29/03) 26 wkers
In memory of my beloved Emma 9/24/03 - 1/19/07
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