White County Head Start On New Bus Law

White County buses already carry a sign against unauthorized personnel on-board, well before a new state law passed.

That law requires districts to post signs on school buses warning unauthorized personnel not to board the bus. White County Schools Director of Transportation and Maintenance Randy Alley said the new law will ensure the safety of students and drivers.

“More than anything is to keep someone from stepping up and coming up after a student or coming up after a driver,” Alley said. “With the law posted on the school bus, then that gives law enforcement an immediate way to take those people in custody.”

The new law also included training standards for drivers, designed to instruct how to deal with someone trying to board a school bus unlawfully. Alley said drivers train twice annually for bus safety.

“We tell all of our drivers when you are pulling up to your stop if there is an adult standing there with a student do not open the door,” Alley said. “Make the adult come around to the driver’s side of the bus. In doing that they cannot enter the bus from that side.”

Alley said the county posted signage on the issue several years ago. Alley said the school system receives lots of support from the county on these types of rule-making.

“White County has followed that rule for years,” Alley said. “Tennessee Highway Patrol and White County Sheriff’s Office has always backed us that if someone unlawfully entered a school bus, then they would remove those individuals immediately.”

Alley said multiple threats have been made. However, he said no unauthorized person has boarded a bus in his nine years with the system.