Easter Seals Project ACTION presents:
"Excellence in Service for Paratransit Managers"

ONLINE: Jan. 4 - March 12, 2010
(Participation in a live closing teleconference on March 11
is required.)
Space is limited. Please apply online by Dec. 4, 2009.

About the Course

This free, 10-week virtual training course is designed for ADA Complementary Paratransit managers who are new to the field. Content highlights the history of the disability movement and how to engage the disability community in your service area, while gaining a greater understanding of the ADA and sensitivity toward people who have disabilities.

ADA Complementary Paratransit managers often come into their positions with a strong transportation background, but with little contact with individuals with disabilities or the disability community. This online course offers an introduction.

While this is a virtual course, there is an opportunity to share experiences, ideas and knowledge with colleagues. The course contains readings, activities, and online and teleconference interaction. The format is flexible enough to allow busy professionals to log in and work at any hour of the day or night. Students will be expected to participate in a minimum of 15 concentrated hours on the course activities over the 10-week span of the course.

A limited enrollment offers an environment in which ADA complementary paratransit managers will get to know the course instructor as well as their peers.

How the course is structured

The course includes five learning modules consisting of readings, videos, audio recordings, activities, forums, and quizzes; a live closing teleconference; and in-depth homework activities.

1. Module 1: History
2. Module 2: Assessing the Local Landscape
3. Module 3: Problem-Solving Process
4. Module 4: Effective Communication
5. Module 5: The Americans with Disabilities Act

Application process

Class size is limited. Applications are due by Friday, Dec. 4, 2009.  Applicants will be notified of their selection on or before Monday, Dec. 7.  If selected, applicants will receive an orientation booklet and CD-rom with the information needed to begin the course. Participants are required to participate in a live closing teleconference scheduled for Thursday, March 11, 2010, from 2 - 4 p.m. Eastern Time.

What are the selection criteria?

Priority is given to applicants who:

• Are a manager of an ADA Complementary Paratransit organization
• Are new to the ADA Complementary paratransit field
• Have limited experience working with people with disabilities

What is expected of class members?

• Completion of reading and listening assignments
• Participation in teleconference and forum entries
• Completion of assignments and quizzes

NOTE: Certain activities, including the live closing teleconference, are required for completion of the course. For more information, contact the course instructor, Kristi Ross, at ESPM@easterseals.com or (800) 659-6428.

What is included in the training?

During the 10 weeks of study and shared discussion, class members will complete five learning modules consisting of readings, videos, audio recordings, activities, forum entries, and quizzes, and participate in in-depth homework activities and one live closing teleconference. The total number of hours required of each participant will be approximately 15. Class sizes are small, so you will have great opportunities for peer-to-peer learning and interaction.

Course Calendar

Start Date: Monday, Jan. 4. 2010
Date of the Live Closing Teleconference: Thursday, March 11, 2010 (2 - 4 p.m. Eastern Time)
End Date: Friday, March 12, 2010

Cancellation policy

If you learn that you are unable to participate in the course, contact ESPA immediately so that other individuals can be contacted from the waiting list.

For more information

To inquire about the course contact the instructor, Kristi Ross, ESPM@easterseals.com, 800-659-6428.

Recently, the Department of Justice (DOJ) issued guidelines for Federal prosecutors in states that have enacted laws authorizing the use of “medical marijuana.” http://www.justice.gov/opa/documents/medical-marijuana.pdf.

We have had several inquiries about whether the DOJ advice to Federal prosecutors regarding pursuing criminal cases will have an impact upon the Department of Transportation’s longstanding regulation about the use of marijuana by safety-sensitive transportation employees – pilots, school bus drivers, truck drivers, train engineers, subway operators, aircraft maintenance personnel, transit fire-armed security personnel, ship captains, and pipeline emergency response personnel, among others.

We want to make it perfectly clear that the DOJ guidelines will have no bearing on the Department of Transportation’s regulated drug testing program. We will not change our regulated drug testing program based upon these guidelines to Federal prosecutors.

The Department of Transportation’s Drug and Alcohol Testing Regulation – 49 CFR Part 40, at 40.151(e) – does not authorize “medical marijuana” under a state law to be a valid medical explanation for a transportation employee’s positive drug test result.

That section states:

§ 40.151 What are MROs prohibited from doing as part of the verification process?
As an MRO, you are prohibited from doing the following as part of the verification process:
(e) You must not verify a test negative based on information that a physician recommended that the employee use a drug listed in Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act. (e.g., under a state law that purports to authorize such recommendations, such as the “medical marijuana” laws that some states have adopted.)

We want to assure the traveling public that our transportation system is the safest it can possibly be.

Jim L. Swart
Director
Office of the Secretary of Transportation
Office of Drug and Alcohol
Policy and Compliance
Department of Transportation

Careers in Transit Video Release

The National Center for Transit Research (NCTR) at the University of South Florida is pleased to announce the availability of a 10-minute video entitled “Careers in Transit”.  Public Transportation has often been referred to as “the accidental occupation” because most people are not aware of the many good career opportunities that exist in the field of transit.   This fast-paced DVD is designed to be seen by high school and college students who have yet to make up their minds on what field they will enter.  It provides a preliminary glimpse of the kinds of jobs that are available, and stresses the “green nature” of transit as well as the extensive technology that is being utilized in all forms of transit systems.  We hope it will increase their interest in exploring the possibility of working in the field of public transportation.  Given the tremendous competition there will be for talent once the Boomer generation retires, the public transportation industry must compete for good applicants and increase its visibility as an employer of choice.

This video has been posted on You Tube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txg9PDWTW78.   We hope you will review the video and forward the link to as many people as you think would be interested in viewing it, and advise others of its availability. A hard copy of the DVD is being sent to all Human Resource Directors of transit agencies that are members of APTA. 

We would also like to gratefully acknowledge the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority in Tampa, Florida, the Research and Innovative Technology Administration of the USDOT, and the Florida Department of Transportation for providing the funding needed to produce this video.  I also want to acknowledge Stephanie Zavacki of NCTR for her diligence and patience in producing the video.  We hope it will be an excellent tool for those who wish to help young people become aware of the many good paying, interesting, and community-oriented positions there are in a field that is sure to expand in the future.

Sincerely,

Joel Volinski, Director - National Center for Transit Research

In cooperation with the Federal Transit Administration, the National Transit Institute at Rutgers University and the Center for Urban Transportation Research at the University of South Florida, we are offering a 2-day workshop to Florida’s transit agencies for integrating transit systems (ITS) entitled Integrating Transit Systems: Defining Data Interfaces Using TCIP on January 26-27, 2010. 

The goal of this course is to help transit professionals and vendors systematically define data interfaces between applications using the Transit Communication Interface Profiles standard (APTA TCIP-S-001 3.0.3). The TCIP model architecture and the associated building blocks will be reviewed. In addition, participants will practice using the TCIP Implementation and Requirements Capabilities Editor (TIRCE) to create and respond to RFPs for applications that are TCIP compliant

There are no registration fees for federal, state, and local government employees who work in transportation related areas, including Florida’s transit agencies.  Fees for contractors and consultants are $450.

Space is limited, so please register early to avoid disappointment.

A course brochure with e-registration form and submittal information is attached for your convenience. An email confirmation will be forwarded to each registrant with schedule, travel and hotel information. The deadline for registration is December 16, 2009.

If you require additional information, please contact.  We look forward to seeing you there.

Effective today, August 31, 2009, Direct Observation collections are mandatory for all DOT Return-to-Duty and Follow-Up drug testing.

On May 15, 2009, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit unanimously upheld DOT’s direct observation drug testing rules applicable to return-to-duty, safety-sensitive transportation industry employees who have already failed or refused to take a prior drug test.  The Court found that the rules were not arbitrary or capricious and did not violate the Fourth Amendment constitutional prohibition on unreasonable searches and seizures. 

Because there was an opportunity for the parties to seek rehearing of the Court’s ruling, the Court’s stay of the direct observation rule continued in effect.  The Court issued a Mandate on July 1, 2009, which finalized the decision, thereby lifting the stay on Direct Observation for return-to duty and follow-up testing.  We published an amendment to Part 40.67(b) on July 30, 2009, reinstating the Direct Observation requirement, effective August 31, 2009.

As with other DOT Direct Observation collections conducted since August 25, 1998, DOT Return-to-Duty and Follow-up drug testing will now require that a same gender observer check for prosthetic and other devices that could be used to cheat a drug test.  This is in addition to the observer’s subsequently watching the employee urinate into the collection container.

DOT’s  49 CFR Part 40 directly observed collections are authorized and required only when:

● The employee attempts to tamper with his or her specimen at the collection site.

-- The specimen temperature is outside the acceptable range;

-- The specimen shows signs of tampering ~ unusual color / odor / characteristic; or

-- The collector finds an item in the employee’s pockets or wallet which appears to be brought into the site to contaminate a specimen; or the collector notes conduct suggesting tampering.

● The Medical Review Officer (MRO) orders the direct observation because:

-- The employee has no legitimate medical reason for certain atypical laboratory results; or

-- The employee’s positive or refusal [adulterated / substituted] test result had to be cancelled because the split specimen test could not be performed (for example, the split was not collected).

 ● The test is a Follow-Up test or a Return-to-Duty test.

Be sure to check-out the DOT website for updates to the following downloadable documents:

What Employees Need to Know About DOT Drug and Alcohol Testing
What Employers Need to Know About DOT Drug and Alcohol Testing
DOT's Direct Observation Procedures Poster
Urine Specimen Collection Guidelines
The Substance Abuse Professionals Guidelines
Drug and Alcohol Testing Rule [49 CFR Part 40]

Full text of the Part 40 Amendment published on July 30, 2009 is available at: http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2009/pdf/E9-18156.pdf

The Utah Department of Transportation and the Utah Department of Public Safety have released a DVD that examines the dangers of distracted driving. The DVD features a teen whose text messaging while driving resulted in the death of two men.

View Video

The links below are the results of the Florida RTAP Training Survey that was conducted in late January and February of this year.  Responses were received from over 40 agencies and provide good insight that will help guide the Florida RTAP and related FDOT training programs for the foreseeable future.

Also available is a summary of the suggested/desired training session topics – which have been grouped by seven common topical areas:

• Administrative Topics
• Grant and Finance Topics
• Operations Topics
• Maintenance Topics
• Human Resources Topics
• Safety and Security Topics
• Other Topics

Thank you for assisting in Florida RTAP Training Survey! We look forward to working with you to meet these needs. 

ESPA Distance Learning Opportunities

Easter Seals Project ACTION extends its range and scope of FREE learning opportunities through a series of “Distance Learning” events. These events are offered as audio conferences featuring distinguished guest speakers who are experts in the topic to be discussed. For more information visit the Easter Seals Project Action website