By Shmuel Binder

TLS sat down with Ray Cherboni, the Lakewood BOE Transportation and Safety Compliance Officer.

Ray is tasked with ensuring bus company contractual and security policies are strictly adhered to.

Here’s an outline of questions that are addressed in our video interview.

How many students are we busing a day?

What is your role at the BOE?

Having worked for approximately half a year on the job, what is your impression of the district’s general state of safety and compliance?

What are the most common safety compliance issues that you’ve seen since starting?

What are the protocols in place for general safety and driver background checks?

What are some of the guidelines that you want parents to know you are on top of with the vendors?

What happens if you note a bus driver has violated safety or service guidelines?

Where can parents find the full list of guidelines that drivers are supposed to adhere to at all times?

What information do you need from parents who call in with a safety concern?

What is the penalty if a driver drops a student off at the wrong stop or switches buses?

What about when parents need to change a child’s bus due to a family emergency?

Where can parents find their special “September” call-in number for logistical extra challenges during the first calendar month of the year?

How are vendors handling the new enhanced emphasis on safety regulations?

What are some issues that are NOT your area of focus? What should people NOT be bringing to you?

What happens if a vendor leaves a kid on a bus?

What languages do you speak that people can feel comfortable talking to you in?