When students return to school from their Christmas break next week, the buses and drivers that carry them to and from school will be tasked with meeting some new safety standards and protocols.

One new law that will take effect on January 1, 2018, establishes a school transportation supervisor program to oversee transportation services for school districts as well as charter schools. The new law also mandates that new school bus drivers must be at least 25 years old, have a clean driving record for the previous five years, and complete a training program before they can begin driving the bus.

Another new portion of state law regarding school buses hopes to provide a means for motorists to report school bus drivers who are operating their buses unsafely while also establishing accountability protocols for school systems in handling complaints about buses operating unsafely.

Starting on January 1, 2018, every school bus in the state must be equipped with a sticker displaying a telephone number to call with complaints regarding the safe operation of that particular bus.

“What started this whole law was the wreck in Chattanooga,” said Carter County Schools Transportation Director Wayne Sams, referring to a fatal school bus crash in November 2016. “There had been several complaints on that driver, and nothing was done.”

The telephone number listed on the buses is only for safety complaints regarding the operation of the bus. Complaints regarding student activity on the bus should not be called in through the safety hotline number.

Handling complaints regarding bus operations is nothing new for his department, Sams said. “We do it now. If there is a complaint I deal with it,” he said.

Many of the complaints the department now receives turn out to be unfounded or not truly safety issues. Sams said they receive a lot of complaints regarding things such as the back up buzzers being too loud during the early morning when the buses are picking up students or the flashing lights being too bright coming through the windows of a home.

Other times, the complaints may seem like issues to the person calling, but Sams said they are actually instances of the bus driver following the proper safety protocols. As one example he cited a call-in complaint that a bus had stopped several times within a short distance to pick up children at different homes, which the person filing the complaint said held up traffic. Sams said for safety reasons, buses are not allowed to pull off the side of the road to allow motorists to pass.

The new law outlines procedures which the school system must follow to address complaints.

Once a complaint is received, the transportation supervisor, in this case Sams, has 24 hours to begin an investigation into the complaint. Within 48 hours of the complaint being filed, the supervisor must issue a preliminary report to the director of schools that includes the time and date the complaint was received, a copy or summary of the complaint, the name of the bus driver involved, and any prior complaints or disciplinary actions taken against the driver.

Within 60 school days of receiving the complaint, a final report is issued to the director of schools in writing that includes any findings of the investigation and any action taken by the transportation supervisor in response to the complaint.

Complaints which are substantiated will be made part of the driver’s personnel file while complaints determined to be unfounded will not, Sams said.

One of the biggest tools Sams and his staff will have to investigate the complaints is a safety measure already in place on the school buses — the bus camera system. In addition to recording activities in and around the bus, the cameras are also equipped with GPS technology which also records the buses’ speed at all times.

All of Carter County’s school buses, a fleet of around 80, has been equipped with the safety hotline stickers and are ready to go, Sams said.