Students at the Alden-Conger School got an extra dose of bus safety education Friday.

Monday, January 14, 2002

Students at the Alden-Conger School got an extra dose of bus safety education Friday. A special program co-sponsored by KARE 11 and the Minnesota Department of Public Safety brought the KARE 11 Super Bus and a DPS Safety education officer to the school for a special progam for students in kindergarten through the third grade.

The program actually started on Thursday and continues until Tuesday. During that time, students on each of the school district’s routes will get to ride the Super Bus, which is a brand new school bus decorated with logos and signs. The DPS had to get a variance to existing regulations to be able to use the bus, since by existing law, school buses are not allowed to carry advertisements or other forms of decoration.

During the presentation, students listened to a DPS officer, watched a video and then participated in evacuation drills and other activities.

&uot;This program is a unique opportunity to take care of safety training in a fun and interesting way,&uot; said DPS Education Officer Diane Nichols.

State law mandates that all schools carry out safety training during the school year, but a lot of schools don’t have the resources to do the job as effectively as it could be done. This program is one way to help out, said Nichols.

&uot;We already do a bus safety unit in the fall, but this program sounded special,&uot; said Diane Thompson, a kindergarten teacher at Alden-Conger who helped make the arrangements at the school. The A-C students also made use of a web page created by KARE 11 to complement the program.

&uot;We appreciate the fact that they are willing to come out to the districts,&uot; she said.

The Super Bus goes on to its next stop on Tuesday.