Students load onto a bus outside a Briarwood elementary school. Confusion Spreads Community Education Council Presidents and Community Superintendents couldn’t specify whether or not their district or region had a policy in place for seatbelt usage. District 28 CEC President Shirley Huntley said she was not aware of any regulations set in place for the general education students. “At one time I think there was talk about setting [a seatbelt regulation] in our Council meeting,” she said. “It really should be mandated that students wear seatbelts though, especially if they have to wear them when in their parents’ car.” State law requires all passengers in a car to wear seatbelts. Huntley said she finds that some parents do assume their children are wearing the seat belts when on the bus, and if students are not, her district will see that they are. Seeing to it that students are wearing their seatbelts is not an easy feat, said District 30 CEC President Jeannie Tsavaris-Basini, and it’s an even harder feat mandating that they do. A few years ago her CEC passed a resolution that would mandate all students – including general education students – to wear a seatbelt when a school bus is in motion. District 30 was told by the DOE that the rule could not be upheld, since the resolution was not an official piece of legislation. Legislative Aid Recognizing the concern of Queens parents and the need for safe transportation to and from school, state Senators Frank Padavan (R-Bellerose) and Serphin Maltese (R-Glendale) earlier this year supported a bill by Sen. Charles J. Fuschillo (R-Freeport) to require the usage of seat safety belts by passengers of school buses. The bill states that no school bus shall be operated unless all passengers are restrained by a seat safety belt. In addition, on every school bus equipped with seat safety belts the commissioner of transportation shall post and maintain in plain view of the passengers a conspicuous warning sign reading “New York State Law Requires Every Passenger Of This School Bus To Wear A Seatbelt While This Bus Is In Operation”. According to Padavan’s office the New York State Association For Pupil Transportation has opposed the bill as well as its companion bill in the Assembly introduced by Assemblywoman Audrey Pheffer (D-Rockaway). Pheffer’s bill would require children aged 5 to 15 on school buses to use safety belts. Children should have at least the same safety protection while on a school bus that they are afforded in a private motor vehicle, Pheffer said. “Reports that I recall reading were very ambivalent whether seatbelts are a plus or a minus,” Padavan said. “One of the things I do recall is that safety belts can only be applied when there is someone else on the bus who can assure that they are being used properly. The driver obviously has his responsibility of driving safely and cannot see the kids behind him or below the top of the seat to determine whether or not the student is wearing the seat belt.” Unless a matron is put on every bus, which Padavan would be in favor of to assure seat belts are used properly, seatbelts could actually be hazardous. Studies have found that in some cases kids were playing with the belts and doing harm to each other, Padavan said. He added that when Senate hearings were held regarding the bill, school districts around the state were not in favor of mandating seat belt enforcement regulations, a voice echoed by the State Department of Education. “There’s nothing in the law that says they can’t do it. For example if a school district like New York City wanted to do it there is nothing stopping them from doing it,” Padavan said. Andrew Moesel contributed

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