News

Today the Biden Administration is announcing Public and Private Sector actions to strengthen the teaching profession and help schools fill teacher and school support position vacancies.

Of particular interest to the school transportation industry, the Administration is announcing:

• Today ZipRecruiter is launching a new online job portal specifically dedicated to K-12 school jobs. This portal will showcase job openings across public schools throughout the United States, including teachers, nurses, guidance counselors, social workers, mental health counselors, librarians, and more. Schools, districts, and states can partner with ZipRecruiter to have their open roles included for free. The job portal will also feature additional hiring resources including best practices for both job seekers and school districts’ human resource teams.
• Indeed is announcing that it will facilitate virtual hiring fairs for educators throughout the country. These events will specifically focus on the hiring of teachers, administrators, counselors, and other staff. Participating entities will gain access to Indeed’s free suite of hiring tools to manage the end-to-end hiring process, from job postings through interviews.

The full fact sheet can be found here: FACT SHEET: Biden-Harris Administration Announces Public and Private Sector Actions to Strengthen Teaching Profession and Help Schools Fill Vacancies - The White House.

NASDPTS has released its full conference agenda.  Click here to find out what's happening!

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) issued a notice for comment today on draft revisions of the Medical Examiner’s Handbook.  Comments are due by September 30, 2022.  Here’s the notice:  2022-17592.pdf (govinfo.gov).  To access the draft Medical Examiner’s Handbook, go to the Docket, which you will find here:  https://www.regulations.gov/document/FMCSA-2022-0111-0002.

As you may have heard, last week the Center for Disease Control (CDC) announced updated and streamlined COVID-19 guidance.  The press release announcing those updates can be found here:  https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2022/p0811-covid-guidance.html.

The CDC has also updated their Operational Guidance for K-12 Schools and Early Care and Education Programs to Support Safe In-Person Learning.  That updated guidance, which includes, but is not limited to, the removal of information about Test to Stay, can be found here:  https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/schools-childcare/k-12-childcare-guidance.html

The National School Transportation Association (NSTA) has submitted an application to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) requesting a five-year exemption for the ‘‘under-the-hood’’ CDL testing requirement.

Drivers issued a CDL pursuant to the requested exemption would be restricted to the intrastate operation of school buses only. FMCSA requests comments on this application by September 12, 2022 and the notice can be found here:  https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2022-08-11/pdf/2022-17228.pdf.

Just a reminder that the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) deadline for the Clean School Bus Program Grants is 11:59pmET on Friday, August 19.  EPA will be reviewing the applications and beginning the selection process in September and applicants will be notified of their selection status in October.

NHTSA Recall ID Number 22C002

Synopsis : Clek, Inc. (Clek) is recalling certain Olli booster seats, model number OL12U2 manufactured between January 20, 2020 and May 10, 2022, and Ozzi booster seats, model number OZ11U2, manufactured between March 1, 2020 and May 10, 2022. The installation diagram displaying the proper way to install the booster seat with a continuous-loop lap/shoulder belt is missing. As such, these child seats fails to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard number 213, "Child Restraint Systems." A missing installation label may result in an improperly installed child seat, increasing the risk of injury in a crash. Clek will mail owners a new label, free of charge. Owner notification letters are expected to be mailed July 25, 2022. Owners may contact Clek's customer service at 1-866-656-2462.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has issued a Final Rule amending Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 141 (Minimum Sound Requirements for Hybrid and Electric Vehicles) as proposed in the September 17, 2019, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) with respect to the sound requirements used in compliance tests for hybrid and electric vehicles. The agency has chosen not to adopt the remaining portions of the NPRM, including a proposal which would have allowed manufactures of hybrid and electric vehicles (HEVs) to install a number of driver-selectable pedestrian alert sounds in each HEV they manufacture. The driver-selectable alert sounds proposal is not being adopted because of a lack of supporting data.  This Final Rule is effective as of August 12, 2022.

The EPA has recently added the following Clean School Bus resources:

• Clean School Bus Program Flyer
• Several webinars on the Clean School Bus Program have been scheduled over the coming weeks.  All upcoming EPA Clean School Bus events can be found here:  https://www.epa.gov/cleanschoolbus/events-related-clean-school-bus-program.

On May 4, 2022, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) issued an Advance Notice of Supplemental Proposed Rulemaking (ANSPRM) on speed limiters.  The notice requested public comment on questions related to the programming, adjustment, and maintenance of settings to engine control units as well as feedback on the applicability of the speed limiting rulemaking under consideration. Comments on this original notice were due on June 3 and it can be found here:     https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2022-05-04/pdf/2022-09443.pdf. 

Today, FMCSA issued a notice extending the comment period for this ANSPRM to July 18, 2022.  The extension can be found here:  2022-11490.pdf (govinfo.gov).