Dayton superintendent: it’s time to consider school bus seat belts

Dayton Public Schools Superintendent Elizabeth Lolli says she will talk to the school board abour requiring seat belts on Dayton’s large school buses. This is a file photo showing buses as U.S. EPA Chief of Staff Kurt Thiede announces grant funding Oct. 28, 2019, to help Dayton Public Schools buy more clean-diesel, lower-emissions buses. From left are DPS Associate Superintendent Shelia Burton, and Carolyn Watkins, the Ohio EPA’s chief of the office of environment education. JEREMY P. KELLEY / STAFF

Dayton Public Schools Superintendent Elizabeth Lolli says she will talk to the school board abour requiring seat belts on Dayton’s large school buses. This is a file photo showing buses as U.S. EPA Chief of Staff Kurt Thiede announces grant funding Oct. 28, 2019, to help Dayton Public Schools buy more clean-diesel, lower-emissions buses. From left are DPS Associate Superintendent Shelia Burton, and Carolyn Watkins, the Ohio EPA’s chief of the office of environment education. JEREMY P. KELLEY / STAFF

Most of Dayton Public Schools large school buses currently do not have seat belts but Dayton School Superintendent Elizabeth Lolli says she will be talking to the board about buying buses that do have them.

In an exclusive interview with the Dayton Daily News for a story on bus safety, Lolli said the district already has seat belts on pre-school and special-needs buses.

“We have had our buses retrofitted with additional padding for the back of the seats but that’s for impact with my shoulders, my head, my body. But we have not discussed seat belts for our regular buses,” Lolli said.

Dayton Public Schools Superintendent Elizabeth Lolli. CONTRIBUTED

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She said she will bring the issue to the board at its Jan. 25 retreat.

“I think it’s something that we need to actually consider. I don’t know if we will be able to solve the issue immediately in any of our schools,” Lolli said. “And that’s related to first of all the arguments that will occur on the pro side and con side as well as the finances, as well as the determination of whether it truly is needed on a school bus that runs in a neighborhood, or in a certain type of area, like for example rural area or a suburban area, all those different needs.”

You can see more to this story here.

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