Professional Report

character, and “is qualified physically and otherwise for this position.”

The ESC governing board or the superintendent of any district shall provide for an annual physical examination, which may be performed by a person licensed in Ohio to practice medicine or surgery or osteopathic medicine and surgery, a physician’s assistant, an Ohio certified nurse practitioner, or an Ohio certified nurse midwife. (The superintendent of the educational service center may perform this function for any of the school districts with which the ESC has contracts pursuant to ORC sections 3313.843 or 3313.845.) Any such physical exam must meet the requirements of rules adopted by the state board of education. The 10th District Court of Appeals has ruled that a school district could terminate a bus driver’s contract if a DUI conviction resulted in: 1) suspension of the bus driver’s certificate; 2) notice by the insurance carrier that it would no longer insure the driver; and 3) notice by the insurance carrier that the driver’s exclusion was a condition for continued insurability. Employers of school bus drivers must require a background check (including both FBI and BCII results) upon employment of the drivers and every six years thereafter. The subsequent background checks will require only the FBI results if the bus driver has maintained continuous residence in Ohio since the last background check.) For additional information on driver eligibility, please see Appendix D-1 Ohio Pupil Transportation Operation and Safety Rules and Appendix D- 2 Summary of Changes – Operation and Safety Rules. The Department of Education by and with the advice and consent of the director of highway safety shall adopt and enforce regulations relating to the construction, design, equipment (including lighting equipment), and operation of all school buses...operated by or in any school district...in this state. Every school district, its officers and employees, and every person employed under contract by a school district shall be subject to such regulations. A copy of the Ohio Pupil Transportation Operation and Safety Rules is located in Appendix D-1. A summary of the changes in the most recent rules is also included as Appendix D-2. Section 4506.09 ORC provides for the Director of Highway Safety to enter into an agreement with the Department of Education to administer the skills test required by the Federal Commercial Motor Vehicle Act of 1986, at the ODE’s regional bus driver training centers. Previously, the law had used the phrase “school bus” when referring to bus regulations. However, House Bill 73 adopted by the 124th General Assembly used the phrase “a vehicle used for pupil transportation.” As a result, law now provided that “no person shall operate, nor the owner permit operation of, a vehicle used for pupil transportation” unless all school bus regulations (including driver qualifications) were met. Naturally, that then extended to vans used to transport small groups of pupils. The State Board of Education has adopted rules governing the qualifications of the drivers of school vans. A copy of those rules appears as Appendix F.

BUS REGULATIONS

4511.76

4506.09

BUS TURN-

3327.12

School districts (other than a joint vocational or cooperative education