A Perilous Journey

That kid with the candy bar is no longer the only troublemaker whom school bus drivers must watch for. Thousands of school bus drivers have been tapped this year by a new Department of Homeland Security program training them as field scouts in the war on terror.

Called “School Bus Watch,” the program aims to work with 600,000 drivers, who will monitor their routes for people planning to hijack buses or fill them with explosives. During two-hour workshops, already being held all over the country, drivers learn to identify and evaluate concerns. Is somebody unfamiliar taking photos of the area? Is this person asking a lot of questions about the bus route?

“It’s kind of unnerving—we actually had some drivers break into tears during the mock scenarios,” says Oregon bus driver Janis Eggert, an NEA-ESP board member, who recently went through training. Asking drivers to be another set of eyes is a good idea, although it can go too far, she warns. “I know the Mommas, the Poppas, the Grandmas, and that community awareness gives me an edge. Can I be alert to the unusual? Yes, and everybody should be. But should I actually look for bombs? No, I don’t think so. That’s the job of trained police.”