Floyd County Schools will host the state Special Needs Bus Road-e-o next week. The event will be at 9 a.m. Feb. 7 in the parking lot beside the Lakeview building at Georgia Highlands College.

Two teams from Floyd County Schools are participating, and most are traveling here from metro Atlanta.

The Road-e-o aims to improve training and preparedness of bus drivers who transport special needs children. The competition will involve the bus driver and bus monitor working as a team as they compete in the areas of a bus precheck, wheelchair loading and securement, special needs evacuation and driving.

The driving test is based on a traditional bus safety road-e-o course where drivers are asked to navigate their bus through a series of obstacles design to simulate difficult driving situations they may encounter on the highway.

Drivers are also judged on their “TLC,” the ability to maneuver their bus while taking care of their fragile passengers. The TLC driving skill will be measured by a ping pong ball placed on top of a soda bottle nestled in a box of kitty litter and placed in the rear of the bus. This will measure how much the rear of the bus sways and shakes as it stops, starts, turns and maneuvers over speed bumps