Valley native named to Ohio school bus safety group
A former Sebring native was named to serve on a newly formed School Bus Safety Working Group for Ohio.
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine announced that Judith French, Director of the Ohio Department of Insurance, along with 12 other individuals have joined the working group following the death of 11-year-old Aiden Clark, a Northwestern Local School District student who was killed in a school bus-vehicle collision in Clark County.
The goal of the working group will be to look at :
- School bus regulations
- School bus design, maintenance, and inspections
- Driver licensing, certification, and training
- School bus safety technology
- Crash risk factors
- Lessons learned from other school bus crashes
- Alternative transportation and associated risks
- School bus seat belts
- Safety of special populations
- Critical incident protocol
"There is always more that can be done when it comes to the safety of children, and I believe we have an obligation to take a holistic look at the safety of our school buses," said Ohio Governor Mike DeWine. "This group's review will be thorough, focusing on many different aspects of transportation safety."
The Ohio School Bus Safety Working Group will examine topics including, but not limited to:
Other members of the Ohio School Bus Safety Working Group include Andy Wilson (Chair), Director, Ohio Department of Public Safety; Carolyn Everidge-Frey
Senior Executive Director, Center for Advancing Professional Supports, Ohio Department of Education; Dean Fadel President, Ohio Insurance Institute; Paul Imhoff, Director of Government Relations, Buckeye Association of School Administrators; Col. Charles Jones, Superintendent, Ohio State Highway Patrol;
Jack Marchbanks, Director, Ohio Department of Transportation; Jessica Mead, a parent; Erin Reed, Assistant Policy Director, Office of Ohio Governor; David Russell, School Bus Driver, South Euclid Lyndhurst School District; Robert Widener, President, Ohio School Bus Mechanics Association; Chris Woolard, Ohio Superintendent of Public Instruction, Ohio Department of Education; and Jingzhen Yang, MPH, PhD, Principal Investigator, Center for Injury Research & Policy, Abigail Wexner Research Institute, Nationwide Children's Hospital.
"We wanna look at what can we do to ensure that in these situations, our kids are safe. Are they safely restrained are they safely seated, you know what can we learn from the way this happened," said Ohio Public Safety Director Andy Wilson. "What can we learn from other school bus accidents that have happened across the state, because again, you know other bus crashes may happen under other facts and other circumstances, we wanna make sure that our kids are protected in any situation where an unfortunate crash may occur," he said.
The group's first public meeting is scheduled for next month, with recommendations expected to be issued before the end of the year.
