LaHood to Attend School Bus Event At Tuckahoe

Outgoing Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood will speak at a “school bus celebration” at Arlington’s Tuckahoe Elementary School next week.

The event, on Feb. 12, is being organized by the American School Bus Council for its Love the Bus campaign. The campaign is intended to “raise awareness and appreciation for the hundreds of thousands of school bus drivers who safely transport children to and from school.”

The American School Bus Council is supported in part by school bus manufacturers.

Tuckahoe students will hear speeches from LaHood and local officials about “being respectful to their bus drivers and appreciating the safety, environmental, and congestion mitigation benefits of the yellow school bus.”

The event comes with a bit of irony — Arlington Public Schools ran into controversy at the beginning of the school year when administrators announced that hundreds of students were no longer eligible to ride the bus to school.

The press release about the Love the Bus event, after the jump.

The American School Bus Council announced that U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood has accepted an invitation to serve as the lead speaker at its 2013 Love the Bus Main Event on February 12th at Tuckahoe Elementary School in Arlington, VA.

Love the Bus, which began in 2007 and is held every February, is a month-long celebration of the importance of the iconic yellow school bus, and includes events at schools and other locations around the country. It raises awareness and appreciation for the experience of riding the bus to school and the diverse set of individuals whose daily efforts make the yellow school bus what it is today.

At the Main Event, elementary school students will hear from Secretary LaHood, as well as locally-elected officials and school administrators about being respectful to their bus drivers and appreciating the safety, environmental, and congestion mitigation benefits of the yellow school bus. Studies by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) have shown that school buses are the safest mode of transportation to and from school for children, and that every school bus takes approximately 36 cars off the road every morning and afternoon.

One group that will receive special recognition at the event is the hundreds of thousands of school bus drivers who safely transport millions of children to and from school every day. Tuckahoe Elementary students who participate in the event will draw pictures of their buses and even send Love the Bus Valentine’s Day cards to their bus drivers. LoveTheBus.com includes an educator’s toolkit for crafting bus-specific lesson plans and a variety of bus-themed downloads, such as Love the Bus t-shirt templates and bumper magnets.

Ken Hedgecock, Vice President of Sales, Marketing, and Service at Thomas Built Buses said, “Love The Bus presents us with the opportunity to show our appreciation for the role each individual in the pupil transportation community plays in providing safe, efficient and effective transportation for our nation’s children.” National School Transportation Association Executive Director Ronna Sable Weber added, “Love the Bus is a tremendous opportunity for kids who ride the bus to show their appreciation for the drivers who take them to and from school, and focus on the important role the school bus plays in their day-to-day lives.”

For more information about other Love the Bus events around the country or for assistance with planning additional events or procuring American School Bus Council marketing materials, interested individuals are asked to contact ASBC at 866-955-2722, or visit www.americanschoolbuscouncil.com. ASBC can also be found at Facebook.com/LoveTheBus and Twitter.com/WeLoveTheBus.

ABOUT ASBC

ASBC is a coalition of public and private transportation providers, school bus manufacturers and state officials responsible for pupil transportation. The Council’s members include NAPT (National Association for Pupil Transportation), NASDPTS (National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services), NSTA (National School Transportation Association), Blue Bird Corp. of Fort Valley, Ga., IC Corporation of Warrenville, Ill., and Thomas Built Buses of High Point, N.C.