BusRadio suspended in one school district, starts in another
Nelson Garcia
9
News, Colorado
February 1, 2008
LITTLETON – For the past five months, school bus driver
Danny Kenny has been fighting. He's been trying to get
his school district to drop the radio system he's
supposed to play for his kids. It finally did – for now.
"They did this last week – asked us not to play BusRadio
anymore until they can check to see if it's a good fit
for them," said Kenny, a driver with the Littleton
School District.
BusRadio is a program offered free to school districts.
Radio systems are installed in each bus to broadcast
music, commercials, announcements and safety messages
via satellite. BusRadio even offers districts some money
through a portion of the advertisements, which the
company claims runs only about four minutes every hour.
BusRadio advertises itself as playing age-appropriate
music without explicit lyrics. Kenny says that's
partially true. He claims that the songs may be
technically clean, but the themes are too adult for
young kids. He says he's heard songs, for example, about
suicide or about stripping. Plus, Kenny thinks the music
tempts kids to find out more when they get off the bus.
"Do you want to introduce a kid to, Ne-Yo and say, 'Hey
this guy is a great singer. He's a great artist and this
is a great song.' And then when he buys the album you
find out there are other songs on there you don't want
them listen to," said Kenny.
Littleton Schools spokesperson Diane Leiker says the
district has suspended operations of BusRadio
indefinitely until it investigates it further. It will
seek input from drivers, parents, students and assess
how it is working in nearby school districts before
deciding whether to continue with the program.
BusRadio spokesperson Wesley Eberle says parents should
feel confident BusRadio is safe for their kids.
"Our editing standards far exceed FM radio," he said.
"Not only lyrics, but in subject matter."
Despite's Littleton's hesitations, Denver Public Schools
will move forward with its plans to unveil BusRadio
later this spring. Kenny has contacted DPS with his
concerns, but district leaders say they've done their
research.
"Radio on school busses does help in behavior. It keeps
students attentive," said Pauline Gervais, executive
director of transportation for DPS. "The music is
selective and age-appropriate. So, we don't have music
that would be playing that would be more appropriate for
a high school student versus an elementary student."
BusRadio offers different selections for elementary,
middle, and high school students which play a different
selection of songs.
"If we feel there's music or a song that's
inappropriate, I have no problem with calling BusRadio
and saying that's not a song that should be playing on
DPS busses," said Gervais.
Kenny says he just wants all parents to be aware of the
door BusRadio opens for kids. He says while "clean"
versions may be played on the busses, students can find
the "explicit" versions online.
"What you're doing is, you get into kids' heads," said
Kenny. "They go out and buy it."
Eberle says neither BusRadio nor the school district
should be responsible for what students do at home.
"Outside of the bus, it's up to the parents," he said.
Gervais calls Kenny's concerns a stretch.
"I don't think what students are going to be listening
to on the bus is what's going to sway their decision as
to what they're going to listen to or not," she said.
BusRadio was founded in 2004 and is currently based near
Boston. The company says it's in 24 states and installed
in more than 10,000 busses. The system also allows for
GPS tracking.
BusRadio does provide a sampling of its songs on its
website. But, full play lists, lyrics, and song themes
are not available. Kenny says he just wants parents to
be fully aware of what their kids are listening to back
and forth from school.
"The parents had no idea what was being played and who
the artists were and some of these artists are rather
objectionable for anybody with some of the songs that
they sing," said Kenny.