Area districts implementing state recommendations for bus safety a year after deadly crash

It’s been a year since a deadly school bus crash on the first day of class and we’re going district by district to learn the changes they’ve made or have not made to keep students safe.

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At Northwestern Local Schools, they’ve painted a rock in Aiden Clark’s memory. Clark was killed in the crash on the way to the first day of school.

Days after the tragedy within the Northwestern Local Schools district, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine announced a task force that later released a list of school bus safety recommendations.

On Thursday, we reached out to 15 Miami Valley districts. Five of them got back to us and we found some common threads in their responses about safety reform since Clark’s death.

Four districts told us they’ve either been adding bus safety features from the Ohio School Bus Safety Working Group’s list over the last few years or have adopted some of them since the group’s recommendations came out in January.

As reported on News Center 7 at 6:00, Springfield, Beavercreek, and Kettering schools all mentioned a focus on training for transportation employees.

Springfield, Kettering, and Fairborn schools all mentioned some type of on-board bus cameras, including on the stop arms.

“A lot of people don’t really seem to want to stop for busses,” Ashley St. Pierre, of New Carlisle, said.

Kettering City Schools said every bus they’ve ordered in the last six years had LED lights to “help with potential distracted drivers.”

As previously reported, some recommendations from the state task force need action from state lawmakers, such as approving money to fund a needs-based grant program to help districts pay for school bus safety features, approving to offer advanced bus driver training to districts at no cost, and changing Ohio law to stiffen penalties for drivers who break traffic laws in school zones or around school buses.

So far, none of that has been finalized.

State Representative Bernie Willis (R-Springfield) told News Center 7 that the “talks have been ongoing.”

Willis also said lawmakers are trying to change that with bills by the end of the year. He’s been frustrated by the pace of change in Columbus.

“Government moves at, you know, a very slow speed,” Willis said. “Doesn’t move as fast as I would like.”

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