School Transportation Security: Lessons from School Safety Leaders
From medical emergencies to intruders onboard, transportation personnel may face situations that require far more than safe driving.
Recent incidents, research, and legislation suggest transportation safety is receiving increased attention from policymakers and school leaders.
In Oklahoma, lawmakers recently approved the Talyn Bain Act, which allows the creation of 45 mph school zones on certain high-speed state highways near schools following the death of a nine-year-old student in 2025. Nevada's governor also approved legislation aimed at strengthening school-zone safety after four students were struck and killed during the 2025-2026 school year in Clark County. In Illinois, a regional transportation study was launched following an increase in crashes near schools.
Meanwhile, the Governors Highway Safety Association recently estimated that drivers illegally pass stopped school buses between 39 million and 43 million times annually nationwide. In Lee County, Fla., where a student was recently struck by a passing car, 25,000 drivers passed district school buses in just five months.
While the stories vary, each underscores the role traffic and transportation safety play in the broader school safety conversation.
However, a recent NCSSD discussion highlighted that transportation safety extends well beyond traffic management and school-zone enforcement.
One member described the school bus as a "classroom on wheels" and emphasized the importance of treating bus drivers as part of the school's overall safety team. Their district provides drivers with training on the Standard Response Protocol (SRP) and uses tabletop exercises to help them work through realistic scenarios they may encounter during the school day.
Tabletop exercises include medical emergencies on the bus, vehicle fires, intruders onboard, and threats outside the vehicle. The member noted that providing drivers with a common emergency response framework first and then allowing them to apply it through discussion-based exercises has been particularly effective.
Additional resources shared by members included Navigate360's ALICE training course for bus drivers, which addresses attacker response, evacuation considerations, and emergency decision-making. Members also shared TSA's Securing Transportation Assets & Operations guide. While portions of the document are geared toward the broader transportation sector, school safety leaders may find the most relevant information in the sections covering active assailant response on passenger carriers, suspicious activity reporting, emergency communications, and security considerations during routine bus inspections.
The discussion reinforced a common theme: school buses are more than transportation assets. Members emphasized the importance of preparing bus drivers for emergencies through security awareness training, crisis decision-making frameworks, and practical scenario-based exercises.
Subscriber Download: Transportation Crisis Response Quick-Reference Guide
NCSSD member Chris Weedin, project manager for the School Safety Operations and Coordination Center (SSOCC) in South Central Washington State and founder of Paladins, LLC, shared a Transportation Crisis Response quick-reference guide designed for school bus drivers and transportation personnel.
The one-page resource provides a simple framework for managing emergencies by encouraging drivers to assess whether it is safer to stay or go, alert dispatch or emergency responders, and take charge by providing clear direction to students. It also outlines response considerations for evacuations, altercations, unauthorized individuals attempting to board a bus, and incidents involving actual or suspected weapons.
Subscribe for free to download the resource.