August 27, 2025 -- Veteran Columbus City Schools (CCS) bus drivers alongside dozens of new hires filled East and Whetstone High Schools this week with one goal: to protect students and respond fast to danger. Two days of drills with off-duty police, U.S. Secret Service, and FBI agents turned that goal into a plan.

"The S.T.A.R.T. program is here today to give our bus drivers hands-on training on what you would do in a crisis," said Manager of Development and Strategic Initiatives, Dr. Delrica Grubbs. "Everyone is super excited, and this is much needed for our [bus drivers] to feel more empowered and be able to make sure our students are safe when they're being transported to and from school."

More than 600 CCS transportation staff completed S.T.A.R.T. (School Transportation Active-Threat Response Training) led by more than 25 instructors. The session marked Ohio's largest safety training for school bus drivers to date, a notable investment in bus driver preparedness and student safety.

"Today, we [the bus drivers] learned different techniques to help us efficiently work and operate with the students in emergencies," said Leah Easley, bus driver at CCS. "I don't think that this training can be replaced. [It was] a lot of good information."

S.T.A.R.T. equips drivers to define a threat, spot suspicious behavior, and act within the first critical minutes on the bus and at stops across the over 450 routes serving Columbus. The training pairs classroom safety guidance with hands-on, on the bus scenarios built for the aisles, doors, mirrors, and blind spots drivers manage every day.

"School bus drivers are one of the most important people [in the District]," said Todd Dietzel, S.T.A.R.T. trainer and police officer at Morland Hills, Ohio. "Students get to school by bus, go home, and go to sporting events by bus. It's important that we have our school bus drivers in the network of security, situational awareness."

The training’s emphasis on preparedness aligns with the Transportation Department’s focus – safe, reliable transportation for students. In preparation for the new year, CCS doubled its eight-passenger van fleet from 30 to 60 to shorten trips and reduce fuel use. Those vans supplement full-size buses across routes staffed by more than 450 CCS drivers and 120 contract drivers. With this coverage, CCS coordinates timing with District, private, and charter schools to improve on-time service.

"One of our goals was changing the culture [around safety]," said Dr. Grubbs. "We can show our culture and our drivers that we care about them. I think we've done it. For me, that's exciting."

Amplifying the culture of safety, families will now have access to route changes and timing updates through the Parent Portal in Infinite Campus. Using this new tool, families can quickly check and coordinate morning drop-offs and afternoon pick-ups with ease.

"Safe schools start when students step onto the bus in the morning," said CEO and Founder of S.T.A.R.T. Jim Levine. "Nobody wants to respond to an incident on a bus that might have been prevented by a bus driver who was trained to recognize the threat and respond to it in an appropriate way."

Now trained to respond, drivers and bus aides use daily strategies to spot danger, such as:

• How to identify concerning behaviors early and separate conflicts.
• When to decide if a situation is an active threat. 
• What to do during an active threat situation on a bus. 
• Why it's important to act fast and how to do so effectively. 

"[During this training] we learned how to recognize when a child walks on a bus, if they are displaying a behavior that's not necessarily appropriate or out of the norm for them, what we could do to help identify these types of situations when they arise," Easley said.

With the help of S.T.A.R.T. our CCS bus drivers and aides stand ready to prevent incidents and act fast in an emergency. CCS looks forward to the year ahead, promising safe, reliable transportation, where every future leader can arrive at school ready to learn.