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Operator Volume 51 Issue 10 • November 2021
MN Safety Expo in its 42nd Year By Shelly Jonas Planning is well underway for the MN School Bus Safety Expo. This year’s event will be entirely held at the River’s Edge Conference Center in St. Cloud, MN. Due to the driver’s shortage, the committee has decided to push events on Friday, January 28th to later in the day. We have sent out invitations for the vendor show and are expecting a great turnout for a Friday night Happy Hour. We have invited Senator Scott Newman to be our guest speaker on Saturday, January 29th. Senator Newman is chair of the Transportation Committee and has taken a great interest in the school bus industry. He is primarily behind the push to have stop arm cameras on all school buses. He also held a hearing with the Department of Public Safety this month. He is interested in helping prioritize testing and licensing for school bus drivers.. Additionally, representation from the Department of Driver and Vehicle Services including the new director, Pong Xiong and the Director of Operations Tony Anderson will be on hand. Please make plans to attend! It is important to show our commitment to solve these issues. Speaking of the cameras, we have reserved a spot on the agenda to talk through the grant process. The committee has issued a draft of their process, Garrett Regan and I have all offered our thought on the procedure and Scott McMahon will be referring to comments to the committee of our thoughts. We hope that this can be a process that is not overly onerous. We also have invited Matt Marrin from FMCSA. February 7th will be the start date of the Entry Level Driver Training Process. The Drivers Trainer Registry is open. Instructions on how to register were sent out in last month’s issue of the The Operator. Marrin will be on hand to give any last minute updates as well as answer questions regarding the process. Lt. Reu and his staff have been invited to present updates from their office. Tony Nebelsick is a former superintendent as well as a current school bus driver. Nebelsick brings a lot of experience to our group working within the education system and managing people as well as vast experience in South Dakota government. Terry served the past three governors on education committees and juvenile justice committees and continues to Governor Noem on the South Dakota State Board of Educational Standards, and as chairman of the School Finance Accountability Board, certifying to Legislative Appropriations that each school district pays its teachers as intended with the ½ penny sales tax. Terry was named South Dakota’s High School “Principal of the Year” in 2000 and South Dakota’s Outstanding Superintendent in 2020. Continued to Page 11
Look for the full agenda on page 8!
2 The Operator
From the President Garrett Regan, Faribault, MN I hope the newsletter finds all of our operators in good health and experiencing smooth operations! At MSBOA, we held our fall board meeting in early October. We had discussion on….you guessed it…..COVID! Our goal was to get a feel for what operators are experiencing to see what assistance we can provide. We also talked about licensing challenges and what we can do as an association. We have reached out to NSTA (our national school bus association) to see how we can join forces on this cause. NSTA has requested a school bus only permit which would eliminate under the hood pre trips. This is a national regulation but we wanted NSTA to know we’re here to be involved as needed. On the State side, we’re continuing discussions with the new administration at DVS. We’ve heard a lot from members about the challenge the requirement to ‘re-take’ the written tests for a current CDL holder causes (ie a class A driver interested in adding the school bus endorsement is required to ‘re-take’ general knowledge and air brake). We’re determined to make this change and optimistic it can happen at an administrative level, otherwise, we’ll be forced to attempt to make the change legislatively. We know this is a big deterrent to qualified drivers coming into our industry so stay tuned here. We are also working on the details of the stop arm camera grants which will be coming out soon.
MISSION STATEMENT: THE PURPOSE OF THE OPERATOR IS TO PROVIDE THE MEMBERSHIP OF THE MINNESOTA SCHOOL BUS OPERATORS ASSOCIATION WITH INFORMATION REGARDING CURRENT INDUSTRY ISSUES. THE OPERATOR IS PUBLISHED 11 TIMES A YEAR BY THE MSBOA, 10606 Hemlock St. NW • Annandale, MN 55302. FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL 320-274-8313. FAX: 320-274-8027. Website: www.msboa.com SUBSCRIPTIONS ARE FREE WITH MEMBERSHIP. Additional subscriptions are $24.00 a year. COPYRIGHT 2021 MEMBERS MAY MAKE PHOTOCOPIES OR USE ARTICLES AS NECESSARY PROVIDING THE SOURCE IS CITED. Co-Editors: Shelly Jonas: shellyj@msboa.com VIEWS PRESENTED IN THIS NEWSLETTER MAY NOT NECESSARILY REPRESENT THE OPINIONS OF THE ENTIRE MEMBERSHIP OR ITS BOARD OF DIRECTORS.
Here is to hoping for a warm winter!!
Board of Directors PRESIDENT
Garrett Regan FIRST VICE PRESIDENT
Bethany Schubert SECOND VICE PRESIDENT
Jason Anderson TREASURER
Tom Hey Ex-Officio
Josh Schiffler
Jason Anderson, Big Lake 763.263.7900/Cell 612.251.8364 jason.anderson@visionmidwest.com
Tom Hey, Marshall
507.532.4043 /CELL 507.829.7365 thomashey@iw.net
Garrett Regan, Faribault 507.334.5121/ CELL 651.470.7948 gregan@minnesotacoaches.com
Rayme Bernick, Delano 763.972.3991/Cell 612.702.8954 rayme@stahlkebus.com
Shelly Jonas, Annandale 320.274.8313 / CELL 612.599.0431 shellyj@msboa.com
Josh Schiffler, Crosby 218.546.6156 / CELL 612.245.6579 jschiffler@citransportation.com
Eric Burrill, Jordan 952.492-2410/Cell eburrill@benjaminbus.com
Scott Kennedy, Zumbrota - Mazeppa Bethany Schubert, Saint Stephen 507.273.2819 skennedy379@aol.com
320.251.1202 / CELL 218.851.2061 bethany@trobecsbus.com
Ann Casey, St. Louis Park
Steve Latour, St. Paul
Kathryn Forbord, Lakeville
952.426.7114/Cell 952.797.4936 acasey@adamsvs.net
Connie Grisim, Stewartville 507.533.8775/Cell 507.254.3828 Connie.grisimbus@gmail.com
Doug Grisim, Lake City 651.345.4112/CELL 651.380.9063 douggrisim@gmail.com
651.251.8080 / CELL 651.587.6292 slatour@minnesotacoaches.com
Paul Meyer, Hutchinson
320.234-0888 / CELL 612.281.7375 paulm@hutchbus.com
Michael Putzke, Paynesville 320.243.4455 / FAX 243.4450 putmic@hotmail.com
952.985.7540/ CELL 952.484.6879 kforbord@schmittyandsons.com
Nathan Olander, Detroit Lakes 218.847.7533 njolander@gmail.com
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Legislative Update By Scott MacMahon, Flaherty Hood Phone: 651-259-1908 • Email: shmcmahon@flaherty-hood.com
I am excited to let you know that the Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) will soon announce the first opportunity for our operators to access funds from the Stop Arm Camera Grant Program. Last session, the legislature funded the program with $15 million. Half of those funds will be awarded during the current fiscal year, which ends June 30, 2022, and the other half will be awarded between July 1, 2022 and June 30, 2023. Once the application period opens, both OTS and MSBOA will send you information, so please watch your inbox for the announcements. At this point, it appears that OTS is planning on three award periods for this fiscal year. The first period will have a deadline of mid-December. If FY22 funds remain after the first round, then additional rounds will happen in March and June. If you are interested in obtaining funds to equip your buses with stop arm cameras, I strongly encourage you to get an application in for the first award round. I do want to call you attention to one of the application requirements, because it is something you can begin working on today. OTS will give greater consideration for grant applications that have support from local law enforcement. One thing the application will request is a letter of support from your local law enforcement agency. For most of you that will likely include both your local police and sheriff departments. If you plan to apply, I urge you to begin talking with these folks today so that you are ready to include a letter of support in your application. When you talk with your local law enforcement, please let them know that one of the legislative requirements under the grant program is to report the number of citations issued as a result of the newly installed camera systems. Obviously this is not information that you have as bus operators, but the state hopes that by requiring statements of support from local law enforcement as a required part of the grant application, that it will increase the ability of successfully capturing this data. The Stop Arm Camera Grant Program is an extremely unique opportunity. It is the hopes of the Transportation Committees that this funding will allow every bus in the state that an operator or district wants to have a camera system to have one. But it is also unique in that I am sure most of you have not had to deal with state grant programs like this. Please know that we are here to help. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. You can reach me at shmcmahon@flaherty-hood.com or 651-259-1908.
MDE Survey Results Thank you to all those that participated in the survey with MN Department of Education. The responses were organized into an outline below to share with MDE. Next steps include a small working group regarding options that MDE can help with. Education Commissioner Dr. Heather Mueller indicated that this is a very important issue to them as it impacts attendance and access to Education. Causes of the School Bus Driver Shortage/Barriers to Employment: 1)
Employment Terms a) b) c) d)
2)
3)
4)
Aging Driver Pool considered at risk Distance Learning – Stability of job questionable Mask mandate enforcement Vaccine Mandate
Societal a) b) c) d) e)
Unemployment/Stimulus benefits (Mis)Perception of Student Behavior Lack of respect from students/parents Lack of interest in driving professions by younger population Competition/Leverage in labor market
CDL Process a) b) c) d) e) f) g)
763-295-5000
Split shift Lack of benefits - healthcare Wages Seasonal
COVID a) b) c) d)
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6 Greetings fellow MSBOA members, My name is Bill Regan. You could probably call me an “old timer” in the school bus business. I was awarded my first contract to operate three (3) buses for the LeRoy, Minnesota school district on August 15, 1959. I ran those three buses for nine (9) years as my “part time job”. January 1, 1968, I moved to Owatonna and organized the Owatonna Bus Company. I have been here ever since – 53 plus years. That is over 62 years in the business. The Owatonna School District has an enrollment of approximately 5,000 students. It has been about the same all of these years. During this time, I have worked with twelve (12) superintendents and probably as many business managers. This district has never had to employ a “Director of Transportation”. The Bus Company has filled that role by working with the business manager, the athletic director, department heads and building principals and secretaries – and it works well. If someone needs anything they just “call the bus company”. It’s very simple and it’s based on trust. By my own estimation, not having to employ a director of transportation, has probably saved the school district millions of dollars through these past 53 years. For more than 40 years I have tracked the district’s transportation costs as a percentage of the district’s general operating fund. It has remained steady within 5% and 6 ½%. Rarely has it ever been over or under. This was true until the explosion of special needs transportation costs during the last 5 to 10 years. However, if you extract all special needs costs, the percentages would revert to the historical 5% to 6 ½% or even lower. Our contracts have been renewed through negotiations directly between ourselves and the business manager and/or superintendent. The district has compared our costs with the costs of like-sized districts in our area of Southeast Minnesota. The District is satisfied that our rates are very close to all of the others. They have never found it necessary to seek competitive bids and, they have done it without using a consultant. I have heard recent horror stories about contract consultants whose agreements do not allow the contractor to even talk with school administrators or school board members during negotiations. For this service, they charge the district $190.00 per hour or more. Even worse, Districts that have engaged operations consultants, who use the same restrictions, with no contact between contractor and administrators, they then discover that the consultants know far less about efficient routing and operations than their contractor. The results are horrendous. My advice is this: “Give your district the best possible service at the lowest reasonable rates. Build trust and long-term relationships.” My best wishes to all of our MSBOA contractors and don’t forget to say a prayer every morning and every night for a successful and safe operation. Bill Regan Owatonna
School Bus Only CDL By Shelly Jonas
WE REALLY DO MEAN
The School Bus Only CDL is a project that the National School Transportation Association (NSTA) has been discussing for a couple of years. This year many states have been asking about it because of the Driver Shortage. NSTA updated the Business Development Committee regarding the issue on October 27th. NSTA said they had a great call with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA). NSTA’s goal is to streamline the under-the-hood requirements for school bus drivers to better reflect what is required by school bus drivers. FMCSA stated they are in the process of modernizing those under the hood requirements for all CDL drivers. NSTA believes there still may be some value of retaining a school bus driver only CDL. They also commented that it may be possible for states to go ahead and do this on their own. They stated there will be more to come on this topic. As indicated by our survey earlier this month, it appears that many MSBOA members believe the under the hood requirement testing is very challenging for school bus applicants. School bus drivers usually are within several miles from their terminal and have radio contact with their mechanics. We will keep you posted as this situation develops.
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January 28-29, 2022
St. Cloud, Minnesota River’s Edge Civic Center Courtyard by Marriott (Reservations: 320-654-1661) Questions: MSBOA 320-274-8313 Register at msboa.com
A comprehensive seminar on school bus safety for Transportation Directors, Contractors, and Safety Personnel!
Tentative Agenda FRIDAY, JANUARY 28, 2022-
Terry Haws, River's Edge
4:00PM
MSBOA Board Meeting
6:00 - 8:00PM
Vendor Show and Happy Hour
SATURDAY, JANUARY 29, 2022 -
Stockinger Suite, River's Edge
7:00 - 8:00AM
Breakfast
8:00 - 10:00AM
MNDPS & FMCSA
10:00 - 11:00AM
TSA- Security Awareness
11:00 - 12:00PM
Tim Eggebraaten- Former police officer - critical thinking skills, leadership skills,
12:00 - 1:30PM
Luncheon & Guest Speaker Senator Scott Newman
1:30 - 2:30PM
Camera Panel Grant Committee
2:30 - 3:30PM
Tony Nebelsick - Former Superintendent/current school bus driver - employee motivation
3:30 - 4:00PM
General Business Session
Legal Notes
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BY THOMAS REVNEW, ESQ., OF SEATON, PETERS & REVNEW
HOTLINE PHONE: (952) 921-4622 OSHA’s COVID-19 Vaccine Emergency Temporary Standard In the imminent future, the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) will be issuing an Emergency Temporary Standard (“ETS”), requiring all employers with 100 or more employees to ensure their workforce is either fully vaccinated (meaning two weeks after receiving the second dose in a two-dose series or two weeks following vaccination in a single-dose vaccine) or provides a negative test at least weekly. Employees with either a religious or medical/disability exemption may decline the vaccine, but will then be required to comply with the testing requirements. At the time of this article, it is uncertain when employers will need to be in full compliance with this rule. Similar to other OSHA standards, the ETS will call for violations of this rule to carry a significant penalty per violation of close to $14,000, which could lead to some rather large penalty sums if OSHA determines a company had multiple violations (each violation stacks). Potential Challenges to the ETS The ETS will be met with a variety of legal challenges by numerous governors and various state Attorneys Generals. There is a very real possibility that the ETS could be enjoined by the federal courts. Historically, OSHA has rarely used its ETS authority, doing so only nine times with the last one in 1983. Of the nine emergency rules issued, six were challenged in court with five of the challenges being successful. There are several ways that the Vaccine ETS could be challenged. For reference, Section 6(c) of the OSH Act provides OSHA with the authority to issue an ETS in limited circumstances. In order to issue an ETS, OSHA must determine that: 1) employees are exposed to grave danger from exposure to substances or agents determined to be toxic or physically harmful or from new hazards; and 2) that such ETS is necessary to protect employees from such danger. Using statistical evidence pertaining to the low fatality rates of COVID patients as compared to the high number of asymptomatic patients, the challengers of the ETS will likely argue that employees are not in “grave danger” and therefore the standard is unnecessary. Additionally, state Attorneys General have indicated they will challenge the mandate on the basis that COVID-19 does not constitute a “substance” or “agent” as required by the statute and furthermore it is not specifically “work-related” as it may be encountered anywhere in the world. As such, the Attorney Generals will argue that OSHA has no authority to issue the ETS. Regardless of whether your business has 100 or more employees, you likely will be impacted by vaccine mandates whether as a federal contractor or as a customer or vendor to a business requiring vaccination of those coming on their premises. Accordingly, employers should be prepared to address requests by employees for a religious or disability accommodation (i.e. exemption) to a vaccine mandate. In preparing for such mandates, employers should also designate who within the company will be responsible for addressing as well as for addressing such requests for accommodation as well as any customer and vendor vaccine mandates 1 Although the CDC has authorized COVID-19 vaccine booster shots for certain groups of people, it is unclear if or how OSHA will take that into consideration when determining an employee’s vaccination status.
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Gratitude By Shelly Jonas
Thanksgiving time is naturally a time of year when many people express their gratitude for their blessings. But gratitude is sort of enjoying a societal resurgence. Many people keep gratitude journals and write down three things they are thankful for every day. Studies show that when people contemplate those things, they fall asleep 15 minutes faster each night. But what about expressing thanks to others? A 2021 student at the University of California and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill asked pairs of freshman roommates to share something that they appreciated about their roommate or something neutral. Then they were asked to complete a high stress task. Researchers discovered that those who had expresses their mutual appreciation experienced a calmer cardiovascular response to the challenge. Those students were steadied by the sense of connection that they previously had shared. An author named Gina Hamadey wrote a book about her experience of sending 365 thank you notes over the course of a year. She said that the experience made her more tuned into the everyday kindness that people display. She said at first it was a little awkward, but then found out that people didn’t really care what she wrote, they just felt better receiving it. Following the year, Hamadey found that she wrote 8 letters to her mother-in-law. She found that appreciating all that her motherin-law did for her family, really strengthen their relationship and made them closer. She also found that it made her calmer and more focused in her day after she wrote her notes. In a year when we have such a shortage of staff, it’s critical to let our staff know how much we appreciate them. So how do you start telling others around you how much you appreciate them? Stock up on supplies! Keep a stack of thank you cards in your desk or other handy location. In a world of email and texts, a handwritten note is extra meaningful. The following comes from Hamadey’s experience. 1.
Visualize the recipient. Think about what you would say in a conversation about that person.
2. Don’t worry about perfection. Crossing out mistakes or non-perfect handwriting actually comes across as more authentic. 3. Get specific. Telling someone that you appreciate their attitude or how they handled a specific situation is more impactful than telling them a more generic “good work”. 4.
Brevity is fine. You don’t have to go on and on. Three or four sentences is fine.
5. Don’t stress. No one will think that you could have phrased something better or will overthink what you said. 6. Hamadey made notes of who she wanted to thank and liked to complete them on “Thankful Thursday” during her lunch. That way she had made the time and the routine of getting them done.
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MN Safety Expo in its 42nd Year continued from page 1.
Tim Eggebraaten is the “Off-Duty Chief”, a police officer since 1992, Tim shares remarkable, engaging stories of life on the force and his life lessons and translates them into our everyday lives. Key takeaways include: • Strengthen your Critical-Thinking skills to lead teams and motivate those around you. • Develop your Emotional Intelligence: self-awareness, social-awareness, self-management, and relationship management for a clear view of what’s happening on your watch. • Understand the Warning Signs that you have lost your balance and the steps to get back on track. • Identify and Evaluate difficult situations and how to best navigate when outside of your com fort zone. Register at msboa.com today. This will be a great event to recharge mid-year!
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MDE Survey Results continued from page 4
Potential Solutions/Ideas to get school bus driver applicants: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Create incentives to re-enter workforce Bring awareness to school bus drivers as a vital profession Work on respect issues from parents, students and school staff Reduce red tape around licensing process and prioritize CDL drivers Help school bus driver access pay/hours over summer Instead of paying people to not work, subsidize and pay them to get a CDL Allow third party examiners to proctor written test Expedite the process for current CDL holders to move between classes Remove pretrip burden and create a specific School Bus License Provide funding for school bus driving to be a livable wage rather than relying on retirees Give tax breaks to employees who provide critical services in transportation sector Separate transportation fund from general fund so school districts don’t have to decide between teachers and transportation Work with schools to prioritize transportation and function efficiently by looking at bell times Work with MN State High School League to allow for more efficient use of transportation staff Encourage cross-employment – Paras/Cooks/Coaches/Custodial etc. to get CDL
Workforce Integrity Network (WIN) WIN serves as the Third Party Administrator for MSBOA Drug & Alcohol Testing program.
See wintn.com for more details.
MSBOA 10606 Hemlock St. NW Annandale, MN 55302
MSBOA Planner Save these Dates!
MN School Bus Safety Expo. January 28-29, 2022 St. Cloud, MN
MSBOA Summer Conference June 19-21, 2022 Arrowwood Resort
MSBOA LEGAL HOTLINE (952) 921-4622 • Tom Revnew at Seaton, Peters & Revnew