March 2012

Volume 42 Issue 3 • March 2012

JOE BEATON SCHOLARSHIP & TRANSPORTATION SPECIALIST AWARD APPLICATIONS INSIDE

OperatorThe

MSBOA Transportation Specialist AwardsProgram Celebrates 20th Year!!!By Shari Danzeisen

The Annual MSBOA Transportation Specialist Award is once again upon us. This year marks the 20th year for the Trans-portation Specialist Award Program. This award is designed to recognize special people who have touched the lives of thechildren they transport daily. As many have witnessed at previous Transportation Specialist Award Ceremonies, this awardis incredibly meaningful for recipients. It is the perfect way to thank a valued employee who makes your business the bestit can be!

Putting together a nomination packet for an employee may take a bit of time. We all deal with the same daily battles in thetransportation industry that eat up valuable time - especially in the spring of the year. Which is why we send out the appli-cation in March, so you can get a jump on filling it out!

The awards ceremony is held during the summer conference. Over the years in visiting with many of the recipients of thisaward, I have found so many of the people are extremely grateful to their employers, so excited, and so proud to be receiv-ing the award. It is often such an amazing and memorable night for the recipients and their families! For many, this is theonly award on this scale that they have received for a job well done in their life and it means a great deal to them.

If you have never submitted an application please take the time to do so this year. It only takes a couple of minutes to fillout the application. Next, attach any type of letters of recommendation from parents, students, school administrators, schoolteachers or coaches, or community members who want to share their feelings about your employee. All materials can bereturned to you. If you have questions about the award, the ceremony, or the nomination application process, feel free togive our office a call. We will be happy to help get you started or answer any questions you might have.

The MSBOA Office sends the nomination packets to an impartial third party in the state school bus safety department tojudge them. Once we receive the list of award winners, we notify you so you can arrange lodging for your employee andtheir guests.

Keep in mind - this award not only thanks your employee for their hard work and dedication, but it goes a long way in pre-senting a positive image of your company to your community and school district. MSBOA still awards each recipient with a$1000.00 scholarship for the school district they serve.

The award presents a way for you to create positive public relations about your company locally, but also about the schoolbus industry when sadly our industry usually only is recognized by tragedy or negative events.

The application is in this issue of The Operator. Please send your application to the MSBOA Executive Office today.

Get Your Nominations in NOW!!!

Hello from Lake City!

It sounds like the mild winter season is about to change for what I believe is the worse.A typical MN forecast is for 1 -16 inches of snow depending on what part of this greatstate you live in over the next few days. (2/28-2/29).

Cara and I are preparing for another state wrestling tournament in which our son Rustywill be competing in. This is his senior year and we couldn’t be prouder! It seems liketime keeps going quicker and quicker as we reach certain memorable points in ourlives. Raising children is certainly a blessing that we can never take for granted. Andbeing responsible for transporting all of these children is a blessing as well!

A couple of noteworthy items that I would like to bring to everyone’s attention are theimportance of taking advantage of…

• Nominating an employee for the Transportation Specialist Award.

• Encouraging a worthy student to apply for the Joe Beaton Scholarship.

• Attend one of the upcoming Safety and Compliance meetings.

• Take a look at NHTSA’s training program in St Cloud on April 27th.

In Closing, “Never lose sight of the fact that the most important yardstick of your suc-cess will be how you treat other people.” ~Barbara Bush

Doug

2

BBOARDOARD OFOFDDIRECTORSIRECTORS

JOHN BENJAMIN, NORTHFIELD

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MIKE CLARK, FERGUS FALLS


CONNIE GRISIM, STEWARTVILLE


DOUG GRISIM, LAKE CITY


TOM HEY, MARSHALL

507.532.4043 / FAX [email protected]

KEN INSELMANN, WILLMAR


STEVEN JANNINGS, ALBERT LEA

507.373.1467/FAX 373.2714

[email protected]

BRIAN KOCH, WACONIA


JIM KOONST, BELLE PLAINE


GAYLEN LENZ, LAKE CRYSTAL


RUDY LUNDAHL, DULUTH


ROGER MILLNER, ANNANDALE

320.274.8313 / FAX 274.8027

[email protected]

CHARLES PETERSON, JR., ANDOVER


JIM SCHIFFLER, MINNEAPOLIS


JOSH SCHIFFLER, CROSBY


LINNEA WEIDA, LITCHFIELD


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LAYOUT & DESIGN: SHARI DANZEISEN

VIEWS PRESENTED IN THISNEWSLETTER MAY NOT NECESSARILY REPRESENT THEOPINIONS OF THE ENTIRE MEM-BERSHIP OR ITS BOARD OF DIRECTORS.

PRESIDENT

DOUG GRISIM

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ROGER MILLNER

EX-OFFICIO

TOM HEY

From the PresidentDoug GrisimLake City Bus Lines, Lake City, MN

At the time of this writing the new State and CongressionalDistrict maps were produced and made public by the StateCourts. The Legislature and the Governor were to agree onnew district lines, they failed to do so and the Courts drewthe new maps. The development of the new maps hascaused quite a stir of emotions at the State Capitol. Thisonce a decade redistricting has paired 30 House incum-bents in the same district and created 15 open house seats(no elected incumbent.) The Court has drawn districtsbased on population growth or loss and has created HouseDistricts with roughly 38,000 voters, and for the Senate77,000 constituents per district.

In the State Senate, 16 incumbents are paired together andthe Courts created 8 new open/non-incumbent seats.

These new maps have caused legislators lot of soul search-ing. For those Legislators that are paired create limitedoptions: move into the old district; run against another leg-islator; move into an open seat; or retire. It should be notedthat without skipping a beat, Congresswoman Bachmanwasted no time in announcing she would move in to themajority of her old district, which ended the need for Con-gresswoman Bachman to challenge CongresswomanMcCollum in primarily McCollum’s old district. Bachman’snew 6th Congressional District is very republican leaningand will be an easy attempt for Bachman. The rest of theCongressional Districts remained relatively unchanged.However, the 46 House and Senate members who havebeen paired need to make some tough family and politicalquestions in order to make the next best decision regardingthe future of their political career.

On the State Budget front, things are looking not so glum.The State of Minnesota is basically breaking even, in termsof revenues to expenditures. A new State forecast comesout March 1st and is expected to be even money. As youmay recall the State had faced a $5 Billion dollar deficit dur-ing the fiscal years 2012-2013 (the State fiscal year endsJune 30th.) The days of severe budget cuts are over for theshort term. The House and Senate GOP are determined totrim and limit the size and scope of State Governmentspending and regulation in order to limit the chances ofanother larger State Budget Deficit and overall reduce thesize and cost of State Government. Time will tell if theirefforts mitigate and lesson the size of future State Revenuebudget shortfalls.

Of specific interest to MSBOA are a number of issues thatdid not make the time deadlines for last years’ session. Thefirst two are now combined in what is called a conference

committee, organized to rec-oncile differences betweencompanion House and Sen-ate Bills. In this case it is theCrossing arm bill that haspassed the State House133-1 (2011), last week thecrossing arm bill passed State Senate 64-0. The reason thisbill HF 392/SF 992 is going to a conference committee is toreconcile differences due to the fact that HF 1181, a Howes’bill was (MSBOAs bill,) MSBOA, and the State Patrol billthat would adopt the 2010 National Buses Safety Stan-dards, was attached/amended onto the Crossing arm bill.MSBOA has been in contact with the Office of Pupil Trans-portation and we are working in concert to pass both thecrossing arm bill with the 2010 national standards includedin the same bill. This event is likely to occur the week ofMarch 5. MSBOA had some initial changes to be made tothe 2010 Nation Standards, the State Patrol and MSBOAhave worked out those differences basically adopting thenational standards with the exceptions outlined in HF 1181,

A provision that was included in the Special Session duringlast summer’s Government shutdown affecting how districtsand contractors reported student transportation cost.

Under previous law contractors could report student trans-portation cost in terms of per-route, perhour, per-mile orper-child basis. The new law removes the per-route and perhour basis and allows for contracted transportation costs tobe reported if the district meets three criteria. Namely, theyhave to have more than one bid from unrelated parties, theyhave to bid separately on regular, excess and special edu-cation, and that the per mile costs of the categories cannotvary by more than 10%. This law has seemed problemat-ic for MSBOA and others in the students transportation busi-ness because superintendents believe that their contractsmust meet the above criteria when, in fact, it is only anoption. I have since learned the Minnesota DepartmentEducation had this provision in their Education Policy Bill.At this point I have had a bill drafted to repeal the entire newreporting standards, now with the help with the MinnesotaAssociation of Pupil Transportation (MAPT.) MAPT champi-oned this law last year. A number of legislators I have spo-ken with do not recollect the provision and seem willing tohave a hearing to repeal it.

Continued on Page 10.

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Legislative UpdateBy Tom Keliher, Keliher Government Affairs Consulting, LLC.

Phone (612) 723-5168 • Email: [email protected]

The Minnesota School Bus Safety Committee was held onWednesday February 15, 2012 in Robbinsdale.

MDE – Kelly Wosika2010-2011 data has been compiled and will be on the website soon.

To find transportation on the MDE web site go to SchoolSupport, then click on School Finances and Transportationis on the left to click on.

No Child Left Behind waiver information. Transportationshould be provided until the end of the current school year.If transportation is requested beyond that the school boardneeds to approve.

DPS: Law Compliance- Paul DavisLieutenant Carroll’s last day was yesterday. His replacementwill be announced soon.

Members from the Office of Transit from greater Minnesotahave been meeting with the Commissioner.

The new web site is not user friendly and they are trying toimprove it.

The samples of the four pre-trips (daily, weekly, monthly andtrailer), will be put on the web. These are just samples andnot mandated forms. The annual inspection forms are man-dated. Look for the wording on the bottom of the forms.

The crossing gate bill has not been finalized but is expectedto pass this year.

There are a few other things being proposed.

DPS: Inspections - Duane BartelsThe department is down one inspector because of a retire-ment

Regional Trainings are scheduled for safety and complianceinformation for outstate providers as follows:South Region -3/14/12 10:00-2:00 MankatoNorth Region -3/28 10:00-2:00 BemidjiCentral Region -4/4 10:00-2:00 St. Cloud

Each attendee will receive a DVD of a bullying program formthe State Patrol.

There is one person from the Patrol in the metro designatedto inspected post-crash buses

Entering from the new Self certification Form, triple checkand physicals is bogging the system done.

By 2014 the federal mandate will require all of this informa-tion has to be posted on the site before a CDL driver candrive. This may cause lines at State sites.

TTT- Ray Kroll The dates are July 10-13, 2012 in Hinckley. Sherry Case willbe working on the agenda with the committee.

They are planning on doing trailer inspection training at TTTthis year. The committee will be meeting tomorrow from9:00-2:00. They are working aggressively to get the agendadone.

RodeoThe Road-eo will be Saturday June 2nd in Duluth.

Poster contestThe theme this year is’ Stand Back for the Yellow and Black’.

Stake Holders Group- Emily WhiteNext meeting Feb. 27th

MAPT – Ray KrollThe Minnesota School Bus Safety Expo held in St. Paul lastmonth was very successful. Peggy Burns was an excellentspeaker.

Summer conference will be at Craguns this year for the lasttime.

Old Business: Ray Kroll mentioned the Montrose boy that was killedrecently waiting for his school bus.

New Business: Emily White asked if there was anyone advertising in schoolbuses. Kelly said this is legal but no one is currently doing it.Any prospective advertising needs to be approved by theCommissioner of Education according to Statute. The rev-enue from this would go back to MDE but they do not havea way to collect it.

Minneapolis Schools has a new decal that they are puttingin all of their buses. It tells passengers who to call if they seethe driver on their cell phone.

Discussion on a day long Teen Safe Driving Summit from theIntelligent Transportation Systems Institute at the U of M.They had an internet-based video game that the studentsused to simulate a driver texting and other distractions.

Meeting was adjourned at 10:42AMRespectfully submitted,Emily White (Secretary)

4Minnesota School Bus Safety Committee

Office of Pupil Transportation Safety Stakeholders GroupQuarterly MeetingFebruary 27, 2012State Patrol Headquarters - Mendota Heights

Captain Tim Rogotzke opened the meeting at 9 a.m. and thanked every-one for attending. Rogotzke’s first order of business was to present anappreciation certificate to Eddie Carroll for his 30 years of service.

Lt. Brian Reu was introduced as new director of the Office of Pupil Trans-portation Safety. Lt. Reu (Pronounced Roo) will go on duty officially onFebruary 29. He will have the same phone number as Lt. Carroll had.His email address is [email protected]

Legislative Update – Thomas KeliherThe bill with the crossing gates and 2010 National Standards passed bothhouses. The bill will have to go to conference committee. Keliher request-ed that OPTS will meet with Senators Wolf, Harrington and Parrybecause they haven’t seen the National Standards language and toexplain the exemptions from the Standards that we are requesting.

SF 2323- Revives the language from last year requiring Type A schoolbuses to use booster seats, this year’s version directs the fine money col-lected on booster seats to go towards grant money for school districtsand daycares in addition to low income families. The question was raisedas to how or if contractors would be able to access this money. Sgt. Davis would review the language.

Keliher informed the committee to watch for a repealer on transportation cost allocation methods that went into effect this fis-cal year. No one is claiming any ownership on last year’s bill. Wosika stated that MDE wanted the changes to the allocationmethods because there was confusion about the definition of routes and because the department often gets survey requestsin miles and they don’t have that data available.

Davis thanked MAPT and MSBOA for working on the crossing gates bill, especially since MAPT agreed to sit on their lan-guage and to work on an agreement regarding inspections and in-service malfunctions.

Duane Bartles stated that he was told by a superintendant in Northwestern Minnesota that they were looking to revoke themedical certificate requirement for the Multi-function School Bus. Keliher has not seen anything yet, but will be watching forit.

Northern Region Update – There has been a string ofdistracted drivers running into the back of the bus up inthe Northern area. Senenfelder and others worked on apublic service announcement for the local TV stationsand so far it appears to be working.Senenfelder stated that there was a Grand Forks schoolbus driver charged with a sex crime.

Southern Update – Been busy inspecting during sportstournaments. Notify drivers that they will be happening.Not just school buses, but having issues with MotorCoaches and party buses as well. Spread the word, itshould not be a surprise.

Metro Update – Continuing issues with Party Buses.Over the weekend, a bus driver pulled into BrooklynCenter police department with 2 stabbings.

Davis stated that sweetheart stops continue to be anissue. Please talk to your staff about sweetheart stops.Driver trainers and evaluators need to be enforcing it.Have them do their due diligence on the evaluations sothat they can check if they are following the route copy.


5

New Director of The Office of Pupil Transportation

Safety, Lt. Brian Reu (L) with retired director, Lt.

Eddie Carroll (R).

Student Management By Shelly Jonas

In the February Issue of the School Transportation News there was a letter to the editor from a school bus driver regardingschool bus driver shortages.

He writes:

Over the past 20 years I’ve heard about every excuse various administrations could come up with for the school bus drivershortage and have taunted these excuses with the response, There is no school bus driver shortage: There is a shortage ofdecent pay for a job involving unhealthy stress levels, a result of poor driver student management training, along with policiesand support failings that do more to harm the bus environment than to protect it. An employer’s workplace reputation is mostimportant, sometimes more important than the pay and benefits. When it becomes too much to deal with, some of the smartestdrivers join the some 150,000 that leave this industry every year.

It is virtually taboo to discuss the unhealthy workplace behind the wheel of too many school buses in our country, let alone todiscuss the lack of bus driver support at the same facilities. Know this, there is not a shortage of scapegoats willing to drivethe school buses for indifferent acting employers. I lasted over 20 years at the same employer with the help of the civil par-ents in my community, their civil children and an employer that gave me two options: sink or swim.

I swam all those years above and below troubled waters. I swam but never alone. I loved my work, and although retired, con-tinue to work on school bus related projects for my healthy employer. There is no retirement age for helping to keep kids safe.

While you could write this off as a bitter employee, generally speaking there is most likely a thread of truth in his comments.Most of us have probably run across an employee who gets upset because he feels he is unsupported. Unfortunately usual-ly our hands are tied in the matter. The scenario is usually played out as such.

The driver has a student that is a persistent problem on the bus. The driver works with the student to the best of his or her ability. The behavior does not change. The student pushes the issue until something occurs that is the final straw for the driver. The schools won’t remove a problem student from a route because of extenuating circumstances.

As a result, the driver feels like he or she is not being backed up. Personalities also come into play. Some drivers have a hardtime letting a child have a fresh start once they have labeled them as a “problem”. They feel it is a power play and the studenthas “won” if the student doesn’t get removed from thebus. On the other hand, some drivers keep giving 2ndand 3rd and 4th and 5th chances and have difficulty withconsistency.

School bus drivers are not alone. A 2006 study of class-room teachers have listed student management as oneof the most prevalent reasons for job burnout and attritionof first-year teachers. So why are we not working togeth-er on this issue? It seems to me that both groups havesimilar issues. Are we doing all we can to help thesestruggling drivers? Not everyone is cut out for workingwith students and that’s okay. However, would a men-toring program pairing those who succeed with studentmanagement with those that struggle be successful?Would working with the school district on student man-agement training be an option so that students have thesame expectations across the board? Perhaps some ofyour operations have already adopted methods so thatdrivers do not feel like they are forced to “sink or swim”.If so, we’d love to hear them! Please forward your stu-dent management successes to the MSBOA Office forinclusion in a future issue of The Operator.

6

February is Kottkes’ month for the annual state inspection of our school buses. All of us involved in the school bus industryknow all the extra anxiety, cost and work that come with the inspection process. At the time of writing this, we only have 15units out of 220 left to be inspected. The shop is finally able to take a deep breath and look forward to the traditional KFClunch the company provides as a token of thanks for all of their extra work (this is the 50th year for the chicken).

We were also blessed with a D.O.T. audit during the month of February. Preparing for the audit consisted of gathering mul-tiple documents for; drug testing, vehicle inspection records, driver time on duty records, driver’s files, individual triprecords… Although we try to comply and keep up with all the requirements, there is always some concern that the auditor’sinterpretation of the rules is different than the past auditors. Thanks to the great work of our dispatchers, safety department,drivers and shop, we passed the audit with no violations.

We also had our annual review by our school district’s transportation department. The scope of the review is to check for ourcompliance with the contract provisions. Again we had “strangers” checking us out to make sure we are doing what we aresupposed to.

When we receive notice of any type of Inspection, review or audit, the “knee jerk” response is always the same – why can’tthey leave us alone! We run a tight ship; they should be looking at the other guy! I do not have time for this! One only hasto look at the investigation results from the 2010 Gray Summit, MO crash to see why our industry needs the oversight. TheNTSB report on the Gray Summit crash lists multiple areas where violations occurred by the school bus company, the dri-vers and the State of Missouri. There is also an educational value from the various audits and inspections. We have alllearned things that have enhanced our operations from the people that oversee our companies.

Although we all cringe when we receive notification of some type of inspection, we mustall understand the need for the oversight. For those of us that do it “right” because wecare about the safety of our passengers, there is nothing to worry about. We have toremember that there are people and companies that only do it “right” because of thechance of being caught in an inspection (and we all know there are entities out there thatare more concerned about making money, than safety).

Good luck with all of your upcoming opportunities to show all of our regulators the greatjob we all do!

7

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Inspections...A Time to Impress!By Mike Pipenhagen, General Manager, Kottkes’ Bus Service, Inc., Andover, MN

Stop BullyingSee Something-Do SomethingSafety of students on the bus involves much more than protecting them from the physical hazards of other traffic, effects ofa motor vehicle accident, etc. Protecting students also includes protecting students from each other.

As a bus driver you may not feel it is your job to worry about bullying after all, hasn’t bullying always occurred, isn’t it part ofgrowing up, don’t bullying victims need to learn these lessons early in life? The truth is that bullying is associated with imme-diate and long term ill effects for victims and for society including lack of readiness to learn at school, school drop out, poorpsychosocial adjustment, criminal activity, violent acts, and other negative long and short term consequences. Bullying pre-vention gives us a chance to impact individual student’s lives as well as society as a whole.

Bullying is defined as the physical, verbal, or psychological aggression or harassment of others with the goal of gaining poweror dominating another individual. Bullies may behave in such in a way because they themselves are subject to abusivebehavior at home or elsewhere or are socially successful and enjoy power over their peers. Young bullies often develop intoadults with aggressive behaviors. Victims on the other hand are usually timid or otherwise unable to defend themselves.They are usually different from other students in some way.

Bullying can be recognized by its one way action and intention to hurt and dominate. It is often repetitive and includes ver-bal abuse such as belittling, sarcasm, and rumor spreading. Indications of possible bulling can include exchange of money,one child being escorted to a different seat by another child, older/younger children beingthe focus of older/larger children, physical abuse such as tripping or slapping and a childwho shows evidence of fear avoidance of another student. Bullying is not normal teasingwhich is a mutual and two-way activity and limited in time.

Prevention starts with recognition of the problem. As with most student management, bul-lying prevention starts with established clear and consistent consequences. Informing stu-dents of a no tolerance stance, intervening early when bullying situations are recognized,sticking up for vulnerable students, encouraging students to tell of any bullying behaviorthey may be subject to, respecting confidentiality, and promoting proper behavior by show-ing students respect. Drivers should get to know their students and be able to call themby name. Seating of younger students at the front of the bus assists drivers keeping aneye on them.

Drivers should know and understand their school districts policy on bullying and take theproper steps to report any bullying to the school authorities. Students want and need pro-tection from other student bullying but often report they do not get it or that their reports ofbullying are not respected. Drivers do not need to conduct in-depth investigations nor beinvolved in punishment of the bully but should promote their bus as a “bully free zone” andreport potential offences to school officials. Many school districts are now adopting bully-ing policies and providing training for staff. Find out what your district is doing and encour-age them to assist you by providing information on their policies and training.

Learn more about how to prevent bullying on your school bus using positive techniques at:http://safesupportschools.ed.gov/index.php?id=9&eid=436.

“In conjunction with Keystone Insurers Group, this article is brought to you by HarleysvilleInsurance Company. Harleysville partners with Keystone Insurers Group to bring the bestinsurance coverages to School Bus Contractors.”

8

DOL and IRS Crack Down On Independent ContractorsTowards the end of last year, the United States Department of Labor (“DOL”) and the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”)announced a joint effort to subject employers in seven states, including Minnesota, to heightened scrutiny regarding theirclassification of workers as independent contractors. The DOL and IRS made clear that this crack down would result in asignificant increase in the number of investigations of employers and significant penalties to employers who misclassifyemployees as independent contractors. Since that announcement, it appears the number of investigations into independentcontractor issues have increased.

As a result, employers should ensure that they will be able to substantiate the characterization of any independent contrac-tors within their workforce. Unfortunately, there is no completely objective formula to use to determine whether a worker isan employee or independent contractor. Further complicating the situation for employers is the fact that the various state andfederal agencies use different tests to determine whether a worker is properly characterized as an employee or an indepen-dent contractor. Generally, these tests all focus on the degree of control and independence of the worker. The greater thelevel of control and independence the more likely the worker can be properly classified as an independent contractor.The IRS uses the following three factor test to determine whether an independent contractor is properly classified:

(1) Behavioral: Does the company control or have the right to control what the worker does and how the worker does his or her job? The more control the worker has, the more likely the worker will be considered an independent contractor.

(2) Financial: Are the business aspects of the worker’s job controlled by the payer? (i.e., how worker is paid, whether expenses are reimbursed, who provides tools/supplies, etc.). The more the worker controls his/her job and the more tools the worker provides, the more likely the worker will be considered an independent contractor.

(3) Type of Relationship: Are there written contracts or employee type benefits (i.e. pension plan, insurance, vacation pay, etc.)? Will the relationship continue and is the work performed a key aspect of the business? The shorter the period of the relationship and the less it resembles a traditional employment relationship in terms of leave and benefits, the more likely the worker will be considered anindependent contractor.

The DOL Field Operations Handbook used by the DOL investigators sets out a moredetailed test to determine whether a worker is properly classified as an independent con-tractor. The following are a few of the relevant areas of inquiry for the DOL:

(1) Whether there are restrictive provisions in the contract between the possible employer and possible employee which require that the work must be satisfactory to the possible employer and detailing, or giving the possible employer the right to detail, how the work is to be performed;

(2) Whether the possible employer has control over the business of the person performing work for them, even though the possible employer does not control the particular circumstances of the work;


Legal Notes 9

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• Legal Hotline for MSBOA Members

• Employee Handbook & Employment Materials Package $875(Includes 2 hours of attorney time - hourly rates thereafter)

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MSBOA is working with Rep. Joe Hoppe, GOP –Chaska, to cease the requirement that school bus drivers and contractorsare regulated by both State and Federal Employment law regarding alcohol and substance abuse problems. MSBOAobtained a memo from Tom Revenue, MSBOA attorney, detailing the rationale for not maintaining a duel process for driversof TYPE III buses, when found to be under the influence while driving students to and from events. MSBOA is working toeliminate rehabilitation and a re-hire situation during a time of a documented/known substance abuse of a TYPE III driver.This is HF 1670, we will be working to pass this law, or have it amended on to a bill that may pass the legislature.

Two last subjects that MSBOA is working on are a solution to the complaints/concerns from large users of blended bio dieselfuels, and equal access to cost-effective background checks and MVRs. Regarding background checks, there have beensome issues with our members finding different information than what law enforcement finds. MSBOA believes that in orderto protect our students, MSBOA should have access to the same information that school districts, law enforcement and othergroups have at comparable rate or fee. Lastly, MSBOA is closely watching the activity of the loggers, trains, and off roadusers of un-blended non-bio-diesel fuel. The controversy is large and can be characterized as a farmers vs. everyone else.The farmers disregard any and all complaints regarding blended fuels as an attack on the family farm. Needless to sayMSBOA is watching and participating in the debates surrounding fuel use, especially in the winter months.

As always members should communicate with MSBOA their thoughts regarding issues MSBOA is working on, on legislativeissues members would like MSBOA to promote, or for that matter defeat. I am always available to speak with MSBOA mem-bers either by email [email protected] or by cell 612-723-5168.

Legislative Update Continued from Page 3.

10

(3) Whether the contract is for an indefinite period or for a relatively long period;

(4) Whether the possible employer may discharge employees of the alleged independent contractor.

In addition to the DOL and IRS tests, various Minnesota state laws, such as unem-ployment and workers’ compensation, and the agencies tasked with enforcing thoselaws have their own tests which focus on factors similar to those above.

If an individual is improperly classified as an independent contractor rather than anemployee, employers face the possibility of penalties, fines and an increased tax bur-den as a result of that misclassification. Employers can avoid these unexpected costsby conducting an audit into their use of independent contractors and taking varioussteps to ensure these individuals are properly classified.

Legal Notes Continued from Page 9.

Joe Beaton ScholarshipApplications Due April 15, 2012!

The Joe Beaton MSBOA Scholarship was established in 2001 to honor JoeBeaton, the MSBOA’s former attorney and lobbyist. Beaton was a passionatesupporter of education, as well as the Humane Society and various other caus-es. Children or grandchildren of school bus drivers, mechanics, contractors ordrivers themselves may apply. Unlike other scholarships, this is not restricted tohigh school seniors. The Scholarship is open to anyone who is interested in fur-thering their education. The application is enclosed in the newsletter and is dueon April 15, 2012. Applications should be mailed to 10606 Hemlock St. NW,

Annandale MN 55302.

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Ray Kroll stated that they are looking at routing for Train theTrainer. Davis stated that the routing is not the issue. It’sthe drivers making a decision that their way is better.

Discussion about rear end collision in Anoka Hennepin sug-gested that Stakeholders group have further discussion at alater date. Perhaps there could be a news piece.

Cell phones still an issue. Recently found a bus driver tak-ing pictures of the full moon on his phone’s camera. Anoth-er incident of students taking pictures of the driver texting.Remind drivers what the policies are for texting and cellphone use. While, they don’t need the policy in court, thestate patrol likes the additional ammunition. There was aquestion about emergency cell phone usage. While emer-gency use is not prohibited, Davis strongly discourages thedriver to use the phone at all during pick up and drop offs.To illustrate, Davis spoke about a recent incident with a spe-cial needs student who crawled under the bus in order tocross the street. Luckily, the driver double checked the mir-rors and noticed the child was missing and was just about toget out of the seat when the student popped up and ran tomom who was waiting on the other side.

Davis is currently working on a stop arm violation that isschool bus v. school bus. The on-board cameras caught thedriver yelling and swearing at the other driver through theirwindows.

Web site updates – Hopefully clean up of the site will hap-pen soon. Trying to make it more simple. Will put back postcrash drug and alcohol piece and new inspection forms. Willseparate the School Bus manual chapter by chapter.

Ray Kroll announced that the save the date for Train theTrainer cards will go out on March 7.

June 2nd is the School Bus Roadeo in Duluth.

Special Needs driver and assistant award applications dueMarch 15. Contact Kala H. for more information.

Emily White – Judge in So. Washington County sentencingstop arm offenders to do a ride-along. Had some highschool students doing it and found it to be really effective.Started about 15 years ago because of stop arm penaltieswere so high that lawyers were getting involved. Studentshave been telling their friends and parents and seems to bemaking an impact.

MDE - Kelly Wosika – Distributed data on UFARS data sub-

mission. Wosika made a remark about that the data indi-cates less students are transported with more money andremarked about efficiency concerns. Keith Paulson fromAnoka Schools asked if there is a way to include somethingabout average fuel prices because his district has spent700,000 more in fuel costs and will likely have more nextyear. Question from DPS about charter schools that aredoing their own transportation. OPTS would like more infor-mation because they aren’t seeing those vehicles.Nonpublic schools council will meet on Friday. Let KellyWosika know of any info to include.

MN Safety and Compliance Outreach – Contractors weresent letters, MAPT emailed their members and Kelly willemail her list. Dates and places are set for March and earlyApril.

DVS - Deb Carlson was unable to appear. Getting behindon medical certificates, were 11 days behind. Hired staff tostrictly enter medical certificates. Had technical issues.Having issues reading doctor and clinic information. Seeinglonger than expected lines at exam stations due to the selfcertification and medical certificate requirements. Exam sta-tions have a very nice cheat sheet that they use when theyenter the information. Emily White is using it to train her dri-vers to make sure that the doctors are writing their informa-tion legibly.

There was a personnel issue in one exam station tellingschool bus drivers that they cannot check Category 1 for theself-certification, but wouldn’t help drivers to tell them whatto check. Situation remedied. School bus drivers shoulduse Category 1 unless they have a medical waiver that lim-its them to intrastate travel.

DPS suggests that all drivers with a waiver carry that card atall times. The terms and conditions of the waiver is notappearing on their reports.

Transit - Issue ongoing. There will be a meeting at the gov-ernors’ office later today. Commissioners already had aclosed door meeting. Response issued to their technicalbrief was issued. Vehicle design, vehicle construction anddriver qualifications are all concerns that were raised byDPS.

Ray Kroll has 6 copies of Operation Lifesaver, contact Rayif you’d like one.

Next meeting May 7th 9 am. at Mendota Heights.

Office of Pupil Transportation Safety Continued from Page 5.

Watch Your Mail for the MSBOA SummerConference Registration and Invite!!!

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From the President . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

Legal Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

News and Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7

MSBOA PlannerSave these Dates!

Minnesota School Bus Safety CommitteeMeets 3rd Weds. of Every MonthLocations VaryContact: LeAnn Livingston 651-982-8193

Transportation Issues Study CommitteeMeets 4th Weds. of Every MonthContact: Keith Paulson 763-506-1132

Office of Pupil Transportation StakeholdersQuarterly Meetings Held, Dates VaryContact: Lt. Brian Reu 651-405-6047

SAFETY & COMPLIANCE OUTREACH

March 14, Mankato

March 28, Bemidji

April 4, St. Cloud

Invitation & details included in this issue!

June 10-12th, 2012 MSBOA Summer ConferenceChase on the LakeWalker, MN

Northern Region

Sergeant James SenenfelderNorthern Regional TrooperPhone (612) 360-5172E-mail: [email protected]

Metro Region

Sergeant Paul DavisMetro / Central Regional TrooperPhone (612) 685-4820E-mail: [email protected]

Southern Region

Sergeant Chad DauffenbachSouthern Regional TrooperPhone (507) 430-0791E-mail: [email protected]

MN State PatrolContacts

Listed to the right is contact infor-

mation for the state troopers in

charge of school bus transporta-

tion.

Use this contact information!

They are ready to help with any

questions or concerns you may

have!

In This Issue:

March 2012

Documents

Transcript of March 2012