Bus Driver Hailed as Hero!
07/26/2021

Dear CASTO Family,

On Monday, July 26, 2021, a small plane crashed in Truckee. The crash took place at the edge of the Ponderosa Golf Course on Reynold Way. At the same time, one of our Tahoe Truckee Unified School District (TTUSD) bus drivers, Derek Bosserman, was traveling on Reynold Way with eight students and two staff members from a summer program were on board.

The crash happened just 50 feet away from them, (front of the bus) and everyone on the bus was safe. Like all of our school bus drivers, Derek is well trained for emergencies. Despite all that was going on around him, he remained calm and his first priority was his students and their safety. He made sure all of the students were okay and then backed his bus away from the explosion and flames.

The plane crash is a terrible tragedy and we are so grateful that no bystanders were injured. 

The Tahoe Truckee community has expressed their gratitude to Derek and the Tahoe Truckee Unified School District’s Board of Education will recognize his exemplary handling of a very traumatic incident at their next board meeting on August 4, 2021. 

Earlier this year, Derek was named the Transportation Employee of the Year for TTUSD and all of Placer County. 

Safety is a top priority for TTUSD and all of our school bus drivers go through extensive training to be prepared for a situation like this. We are incredibly proud of Derek and his handling of this situation is a testament to the rigor of their training. 

Below is an interview Derek gave to ABC10, aired on Tuesday night at 11:00 p.m.

We are beyond thankful that no students were hurt as a result of this tragic crash.

Truckee plane crash: Bus driver hailed as hero after near miss | abc10.com

Warm regards,

Nanette R. Rondeau

Director of Transportation

Tahoe Truckee Unified School District

CASTO Chapter Six President

(530) 550-0740

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The original version of The CASTO Road Map on Guidance to Reopening Pupil Transportation was released on August 21, 2020.  This living document is intended to provide recommendations and guidelines for best practices to build sustainable mitigation efforts against COVID-19 for the safe operation of school buses in the State of California during this pandemic.  On January 14, 2021 California Department of Public Health (CDPH) released additional guidance in their document COVID-19 and Reopening In-Person Instruction Framework & Public Health for K-12 Schools in California, 2021-2021 School Year.  Guidance in this document produced the following changes and additions of The CASTO Road Map on Guidance to Reopening Pupil Transportation.

Road Map on Guidance to Reopening Pupil Transportation

California Department of Education Virtual Training

CDE IB 20-66 Virtual Training.pdf

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Are you in need of in-service training?  Looking for more information regarding local School Bus training events?  Head over to our Chapter Events Page to see what's going on in your area.

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