San Diego Instructor’s Council

2009-2010 School Year

January 13, 2009 Minutes

Corey Patton – President

619-618-4168

Vaughn Gladney – Vice President

858-353-6450

Anna Bleich – Secretary / Treasurer

858-449-0773

858-748-0010 ext 2037

Meeting was called to order by Corey Patton at 10:11am.

Corey welcomed everyone and started the meeting reminding us that nominations deadline for CASTO member of the year is almost here.

Instructors in attendance were:

Vaughn Gladney Annette Dochstader Merit Whitney

Richard Boorman Linda Keyser Antonio Perez

Marcela Flores Gilberto Esquer Jerome Reynoso

Terri Hanson Corey Patton Anna Bleich

Susie Reese Anita Fry Debbie Marchese Smith

Diane Turner Larry Howie Michael Kern

Cynthia Wright Tom Vargas Catherine M Santos-Reid

Kevin Wedemeyer Serigio Neverez

Meeting minutes for December were approved.

Treasurer’s Report-The balance as of December 2009 is $50.00.

CDE Report–Anna Borges was at Jury duty and was not available this month for the CDE report. Corey reminded us all about the one day classes offered at the CDE and encourage us to attend if possible.

CHP Report–None present.

CASTO Report- Kevin started with the special needs roadeo. Date is February 6, 2010, located in Westminster. Go to for Rules and Guidelines for set up. Special Needs Roadeois always a great way to get your drivers started completing in Roadeo’s. It is a positive event where the drivers earn points instead of demerits. It is meant to be a fun advent. The written test is an open book and drivers may use a computer, referring to to find answers. Drivers can work with each other on the test.

Kevin reminded us the CASTO conference is coming up in March 13-15th 2010. To receive the early-bird registration discount, registration and payment must be postmarked no later than February 12th, 2010. The CASTO Members limited time special is over. The hotel has a good price and Monterey is a beautiful town to visit. Go to CASTO Annual State Conference web site for information. Parking at the conference is $17.00 a day. It is recommended by Kevin that you leave your car in the lot, don’t go in and out, and then walk where you want to go.

CASTO Chapter 3 Special Needs workshop has been changed to Saturday, April 24th, 2010. Location is at San Dieguito Academy. (Check out the CASTO Chapter 3 web site for more information.

CASTO meeting is Thursday January 19th. At San Diego Unified, 6pm.

Sergio mentioned that CASTO needs new members. CASTO also would like to see an increaseof their Sustaining Members. Sustaining members are vendors who do business with school districts in the state of California. Sustaining members are listed in CASTOWAYS, listed on banners at statewide meetings and local and state roadeo’s. They have the opportunity to be at conferences, workshops, and are listed on the CASTO website. Sustaining members help to support the school bus industry.

Sergio had handouts from: January Legislative committee, letter to Diane Feinstein from the CASTO concerning H.R. 4213, (Bill reauthorizes the $0.50 per gallon equivalent credit for compressed Natural Gas and Propane), CHP Newson the Laws for the New Year and the Southern California 2010 Roadeo Schedule. If you missed Instructors Council this month please e-mail Sergio and he can direct you or get this information to you.

Kevin reminded us about getting in the nominations for CASTO member of the year awards. He went over the four different categories.

Old Business- It was suggested we put a flier out by e-mail to see how many Instructors are interested in taking the classes that the CDE is planning to bring to our area. That way we have an idea how many will be signing up when Anna Borges lets us know the dates. It was suggested that Antonio make a place or bog on the web site for Instructors to leave a note with their interest.

New Business-If you have any ideas about adding to our web site please let Antonio Perez know.

Good of the order–Linda and Terri from Spring Valley have a renewal class, On Tuesday and Thursdays, from 9:30 to 11:30. It is starting Jan 19th, thru Feb 2nd. Please call if you are sending a driver to attend.The phone number is 668-5767.

Vista ROP has a glass starting next week.

Kevin has a class starting, check out He also mentioned his handouts for class are posted on this web site.

Diane Turner wanted to discuss how many school bus drivers use the hazard lights at bus stops and loading zones where this is not necessary or required by law.

Presentation-Anita Fry presentation was on Learning Styles. She pointed out how our drivers have different learning styles. Visual learners retain 25%;if you add Auditory to the class they retain 45%. Then you add the doing (Kinesthetic) in class, trainees retain %70. A good class will have all three types of learning styles to keep drivers interested. You can check out this information out on There is a fun test to see what kind of learner you are.

Anita had a very interesting presentation this month. Good job Anita.

Presentation for February 10th, 2010 will be Robert Berkstresser. He will be presenting on Accidents, (After the fact).

Volunteer refreshments for February will be Tom Vargas. San Diego volunteered for March.

Raffle was conducted and $9.00 was added to the Treasury.

Meeting was adjourned.