Volume 3, Issue 5
January, 2010
SCOPE FOR PARAS, CUSTODIAL, PLANT OPS., BUS DRIVERS AND OTHER EDU. EMPLOYEES
SCHOOL SUPPORT STAFF MAKING A DIFFERENCE
Bus Drivers Address Bullying
It is important for adults and, more specifically, bus drivers to be equipped with tools to help prevent and curtail bullying on their vehicles.
There are things drivers can do to help prevent incidents from occurring. 10 percent of students say their bus driver is the person they talk to if they need help solving a problem. Some kids don’t come from very good homes, so if they get on a bus and their driver greets them and gives them attention, the kids will feel safe and feel like this is an adult who cares about them.
Drivers need to not just complain among themselves about the problem. They need to get a coalition of people together, gain the support of their managers, go to school administrators and say ‘We want to see some changes.’ The only way to move any system is with the concerted effort of a group of people.
Students who are chronically bullied rarely tell an adult while they’re in school, usually because they believe the adults don’t care or can’t do anything about the problem,” he says. “The more drivers reach out to their students, the more inclined a child will be to approach the driver if he or she is having a problem.
The most proactive thing a driver can do with respect to bullying is pull over and intervene immediately if he or she notices bullying occurring. “It’s called the ‘teachable moment’ because it’s a time when the driver can point out the problematic behavior and inform the child that what they’re doing is wrong. If a driver is unable to intervene immediately, it is recommended issuing a verbal warning to the student doing the bullying and then notifying the appropriate school official about the incident.
So see how you as a driver can help prevent bullying on your bus.
Diabetes is a chronic disease in which the body does not make or properly
use insulin, a hormone that is needed to convert sugar, starches, and other
food into energy by moving glucose from blood into the cells.
Type 1 Diabetes
Symptoms. The symptoms of Type 1 Diabetes usually develop over a short period of time. They include increased thirst and urination, hunger, weight loss, dry skin, and sometimes blurred vision. Children may also feel very tired all the time. If not diagnosed and treated with insulin, the person with Type 1 Diabetes will eventually lapse into a life-threatening condition known as diabetic ketoacidosis (KEY-toe-asi-DOE-sis) or DKA.
Risk Factors. Though scientists have made much progress in predicting who is at risk for developing Type 1 Diabetes, they do not know exactly what triggers the immune system’s attack on beta cells. They believe that Type 1 Diabetes is due to a combination of genetic and environmental factors.
Type 2 Diabetes
Some children develop Type 2 Diabetes rather quickly, others more slowly.
Some symptoms are often similar to Type 1: Tired, thirsty, hunger, and increased urination.
Some children show no symptoms at diagnosis. Others are symptomatic with very high blood glucose levels.
Diabetes is managed with medication, nutrition, physical activity and glucose monitoring, but there is NO cure.
When the body doesn’t produce insulin, it must be obtained from another source. All people with Type 1 Diabetes must take insulin by injection to live.
Diabetes management
For children and teens who have diabetes, that means meeting their diabetes needs at school, as they do at home. It also means that they will need trained adults who are willing and able to assist them as needed.
Each student with diabetes has different needs and each must have an individualized care plan. However, the basics of diabetes management are similar.
First-of-its-kind Study Describes "Everyday Heroes" Working In Schools
These workers are critical to the success of a school and the safety of its students, but statistics about their work were scarce and scattered. AFT's report, It Takes a Team: A Profile of Support Staff in American Education, for the first time brings together a wealth of information on salaries, benefits, hours and working conditions of school support workers - paraprofessionals, teacher assistants, secretaries, cafeteria workers, bus drivers, security officers and others.
The report tells the stories of some of the everyday heroes in our nation's schools, including:
¦ Patsy Arnold, a bus driver and paraprofessional in Pasco County, Fla. After driving a school bus for nine years, Arnold sought extra training so that she could work as a classroom paraprofessional during the hours she wasn't driving, providing the continuity of attention and care so crucial for special education students.
¦ Julia Martinez and Margaret Espinoza of New York City, paraprofessionals at a school just two blocks from the World Trade Center. On September 11, 2001, they rescued two wheelchair-bound students, even carrying them on their backs when debris and uneven terrain made it impossible to push the wheelchairs.
¦ Shirley Magden, a school secretary in Detroit, Mich. Magden bought alarm clocks for elementary students who were tardy because no one at home got them up on time for school.
In addition to collecting profiles and statistics, the report includes data about AFT's school support staff and their efforts to improve working conditions and service to students. The report finds that although they have tremendous responsibilities for the safety, health and education of students, school support staff often struggle with low pay, hazardous working conditions and haphazard training programs.
Among the statistics the report documents:
Approximately 3.5 million workers, nearly 40 percent of school employees, have support staff jobs in K-12 schools and postsecondary institutions. They include approximately 1.2 million teacher assistants; 1.1 million office and administrative service personnel; 460,000 school bus drivers; 440,000 custodial workers; and 190,000 cooks and cafeteria workers.
Nearly two-thirds of AFT's school support staff members (who are part of the union's Paraprofessional and School-Related Personnel Division) have at least some college education.
The full report is available at http://www.aft.org/pubs-reports/psrp/team2002.pdf
Tips to Keeping Warm:
Wear multiple layers of clothes. Multiple layers of thin clothes are much more effective than a single layer of thick clothes. Multiple layers help keep your body heat insulated, and protect you from outside cold.
Make sure that you cover the three vital heat leaking parts of your body: your head, your hands and your feet (ya, your grandma were right about that). Wear a warm woolen caps at all the times. Wear socks, preferably woolen, and never expose your hands. If you are going out, make sure you wear gloves, or at least keep your hands inside your jacket pockets.
Benefits of Being a Member
As an AFT member and through involvement in your local union, you have an advantage. You have the power to consult; and the power to change things, win improvements, and achieve goals that matter to you and to the people you serve.
Visit our website and see why you should be a member:
