School district addresses problems bus crash posed

Last modified: Saturday, October 14, 2006 8:50 PM CDT

School district addresses problems bus crash posed

There were no answers to give.

Parents anxious to know if their children were injured in the horrific Oct. 16, 2005 bus crash involving members of the Chippewa Falls Senior High School marching band had to wait for news that day.

Some children were hospitalized in Eau Claire, others in Marshfield and La Crosse, and one even as far away as Minneapolis.

But because of federal privacy laws, the hospitals could not disclose the names of the hospitalized children. That meant the school district couldn’t provide the information to worried parents.

“All we could get was a description (of the hospitalized children),” Chippewa Falls Superintendent Mike Schoch said.

Hours went by before some parents were able to find out where their children were taken.

It was a hard lesson to learn on a day filled with misery and sorrow. It’s one the school district is aiming to make sure will not happen again.

A new policy, recommended by the district’s safety committee, helps parents find out where their injured children are hospitalized.

The policy will be considered by the Chippewa Falls School Board on Oct. 19.

“It includes any time a student leaves the school district (on a field trip),” Schoch said. There are probably hundreds of trips being taken during the course of a school year, he said.

The policy change asks parents to sign a form authorizing the release of the name of their child if they are injured on a field trip. That way the school district could tell parents that a specific child is in a specific medical facility.

Schoch said the proposed policy, which covers all trips including those taken by athletic teams, tightens where students ride on school buses.

That’s important because of the confusion that arose after last year’s crash.

Schoch said the district had its original list of students being on specific buses. But, he said, “Kids switched places on the buses.”

So the district couldn’t be confident the students on the list were on the buses they were supposed to be on.

“We are expecting people to account for kids more accurately,” Schoch said.

So under the proposed policy, advisors are required to take attendance after every bus stop.

“It’s making sure the same kids are on the bus,” Schoch said.

Switching of buses by students will be allowed, but discouraged. For a switch to take place the advisor on the bus must first report it to the district office in Chippewa Falls. All of the changes will then be given to the school principals.

“Iknow it’s going to be more book work. I know it is,” Schoch said.

One way to cut back on the book work is to make sure the student rosters for the bus rides stays the same, he said.

The proposed policy doesn’t tackle whether both ends of the trips will be made the same day or require an overnight stay. That will be done by the school district on a case-by-case basis, Schoch said.

For example, the band’s recent competition at Irondale High School in the Twin Cities suburb of New Brighton was determined to be a same day trip.

Schoch said the band returned to Chippewa Falls about 11 p.m., which is no later than when other activities return.

But this year’s trip to the state band competition at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater will require a two-night stay.

Last year’s bus crash happened when students returned after the second night of competition.

Since the band will be performing late that second night, Schoch said the school district felt staying a second night in Whitewater is best.

“We’re going to be more sensitive to that,” he said of the demands being placed on the students.

Typically when band members stay overnight for a competition they wind up sleeping in the gymnasium of the school they are visiting. Usually the extra cost of food for staying another night is picked up by the student’s parents or by the booster club, he said.

The new policy was crafted without consulting with Chippewa Trails, the bus company the district uses for transportation on long trips.

“The bus company will do whatever we want to make things safe,” Schoch said.

He said the school district did an excellent job last year in responding to the accident. “But it could be done better,” he said.

That’s the idea behind the new notification guidelines.

“Hopefully, we’ll never have to use it,” Schoch said.