We mistakenly wrote yesterday that the Littleton Public School District in Colorado had brought back BusRadio to its buses. That was based on this announcement on yesterday’s middle school BusRadio program. AUDIO FILE BusRadio announced that the transportation director from "Littleton School District in Colorado" wanted give a "Shout Out" to her bus drivers. BusRadio’s announcer meant to say "in Arizona." We regret the mix up but it was BusRadio’s mistake.
We did not want to falsely alarm the residents of the Colorado school district that BusRadio had come back to Littleton buses. BusRadio remains suspended in Littleton. We are redoing the article and will soon report on our efforts to inform parents and educators about BusRadio in the Littleton Elementary School District #65 ARIZONA school district.
Revised article below:
From Jim Metrock:
At the very beginning of today’s MIDDLE SCHOOL radio show, the remaining BusRadio DJ Mathew Blades is "interrupted" by an unidentified young woman (usually a BusRadio intern) who says there is a very important "shout out" to be made.
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BusRadio intern: All right Mat, Mat got to hold you up for a second. We have a very important Shout Out. Mat: Uh-Oh. Break it off, a very important Shout Out. Go ahead. Intern: All right, it’s from the Transportation Director, Thelma, of Littleton School District in Colorado and she wants to give a Shout Out to all her bus drivers. [NOTE: The intern meant to say "Arizona" not "Colorado."] Mat: Thelma, you got to call me back at 877-MyBusDJ and do that on the radio, because if you do and you love your "Bus" we’re going to pass out $200 in American Express gift cards to one lucky bus driver. We’re hooked up with the American School Bus Council and all we are asking you to do is to love your "Bus". Call up and make a Shout Out and say "What’s up" to the kids and then you’re entered, but of course, you have to leave your name and how to get back in touch with you right because if you win we want to give you the money. Mat: 877-MyBusDJ. Love your "Bus" bus drivers. Thelma wanted to hear some Nickelback did you say? Intern: She did. She wants to hear "Got To Be Somebody." Mat: Cool. We’ll put it on right now on BusRadio. Nickelback’s "Got To Be Somebody" is played. |
[We are a bit confused by this transcript. Is the DJ just asking Thelma to call in during the bus route or is he asking drivers to call in too? How is the "lucky" bus driver going to be determined? The reference to the American School Bus Council is truly odd. Is this DJ trying to convey the impression that this organization which is a trade group representing pupil transportation associations and bus manufacturers is endorsing BusRadio? It sounds as if this Council is especially supportive of this contest bring run by BusRadio which could be distractive to drivers. Obligation will check into the Council’s relationship and support for BusRadio. We know of no pupil transportation organization that has endorsed the use of BusRadio in school buses.]
So who is Thelma? No matter who she is or how high up she is, Thelma shouldn’t have done what she did this morning.
You have to have a lot of nerve and very little knowledge of bus safety to be a supervisor of bus drivers and actually help instigate a contest that will require drivers under your charge to divert their attention from their SOLE JOB – delivering children safely to and from school.
Thelma from the Littleton Elementary School District #65 in Arizona has requested a "shout out" for all her drivers. She obviously has instructed her drivers to PAY ATTENTION to BusRadio’s content. This is not a smart thing to do. No, I would go further. This is a stupid thing to do. No parent wants their child’s bus driver listening to BusRadio in order to win gift cards.
Anybody involved with pupil transportation who has read ANYTHING about driver distraction and accidents like the Fox River Grove, IL and Conasauga, TN accidents knows that speakers should be moved AWAY from the driver’s compartment so driver’s will find it difficult to be distracted by radio noise. It seems that the Littleton ESD is encouraging their drivers to be fully engaged with BusRadio’s programming.
So Littleton’s Thelma likes Nickelback. She requested a song off the "Dark Horse" CD. This is the same CD that has the song "S.E.X."
S is for the simple need
E is for the ecstasy
X is just to mark the spot
Cause that
