Red Hook Central School District

Proper student behavior is essential for safe transportation. The following rules shall be observed when riding the bus:

1. Students waiting at their bus stops should not play in the road or street.

2. Get on and off the bus in an orderly fashion.

3. Upon entering the bus, students shall immediately be seated and remain seated when the bus is in motion. Instruments should be carried on your lap.

4. Students shall obey the bus driver by always following their safety instructions.

5. Do not distract the driver with unnecessary talk, but please report any problems immediately.

6. Face front when the bus is in motion and keep your arms and legs out of the aisle.

7. Talk with your fellow students in a reasonable manner. Use inside voices.

8. Get off the bus at your residence or assigned stop only. Students must have a bus pass from the office before they will be allowed to get off the bus somewhere other than their residence or assigned bus stop.

9. Cross the street in front of the bus, when stopped, to load or unload, observing the 15-foot crossing rule. Wait for the bus driver to give you the “safe crossing signal” before crossing. Remember that if you cannot see the driver, the driver cannot see you.

10. Students are not allowed to check their mailboxes until after the bus has pulled away.

11. Students shall refrain from the following behaviors while on the bus:

• Playing music
• Using cell phones
• Littering or spitting
• Eating and drinking
• Throwing things on the bus or out the windows
• Screaming, obscene gestures or vulgar language
• Fighting, hitting, pushing or shoving other passengers
• Opening emergency doors or windows, or tripping the emergency buzzer
• Extending arms, legs, heads or any other part of the body out the windows

Students are reminded that riding a school bus is a privilege, not a right and as such may be revoked due bad behavior. Students who violate school bus rules will have bus conduct reports sent home and appropriate action will be taken. Students who persist in violating school bus rules are subject to having their bus riding privileges revoked on a temporary or, if necessary, permanent basis after a hearing. No student will be allowed to infringe on the safety of other students.

At minimum, resident students who meet the following criteria shall be eligible for transportation:

1. All elementary school students

2. Middle and high school students who reside greater than 0.8 miles away, as measured from the West Market Street entrance to the Linden Avenue School.

3. Students with disabilities are eligible for transportation to and from their legal residence and their school of attendance in accordance with their IEP or 504 accommodation plans. If no special transportation support or services are recommended, students with disabilities will be transported similarly to non-disabled students.

4. Homeless students, as defined under the McKinney-Vento Act and Education Law 3209, if not otherwise transported by a state or local service agency or division for youth, are eligible for district-provided transportation, not to exceed 50-miles each way, unless the Commissioner of Education certifies that transportation in excess of 50-miles is in the best interest of the child.

Non-resident families must provide their own student transportation.

Transportation services will be provided to meet the needs of the students of the district within specified limits and areas established by the Board. Times and route schedules will be established at the beginning of each school year and posted in the eSchoolData Parent Portal. Bus stops must be a least three-tenths (0.3) of a mile apart. Departure from these schedules will be permitted only in the interest of safety.

Bus routes shall be routed to avoid a student crossing situation whenever practical on Route 9, Route 9G, Route 199 and Route 308. Parents of students may request that their child be allowed to cross in front of the bus on one of the above-mentioned roadways, however, each request shall be analyzed individually and may be declined in the interest of safety.

Bus drivers must pick-up students at regularly designated stops and in accordance with any approved child-care designated stops. Transportation from school to work, unless part of a work-study program, is not a legitimate use of a school vehicle.

Requests for transportation to private schools will be provided in conformity with provisions of New York State Law. A parent or legal guardian of a parochial or private school child residing in the district who desires their child to be transported to school during the next school year must submit a written request to the Board of Education no later than April 1 of the preceding year, or within 30-days of establishing residency within the district. Upon Board approval, transportation of students to a parochial or private school will not exceed a 15-mile radius from the student’s legal residence. Pick-up points will be determined by the superintendent or superintendent’s designee.

The district will not transport students to a parochial or private school on days on which the district’s schools are not in session, including holidays, conference days and weather-related closings. The district will share its calendar with non-public schools before the start of each school year.

Students with disabilities, ages 5 through 21, who are parentally placed in non-public schools outside their district of residency, if special education services are to be provided to a student at a site other than the non-public school, the school district of location is responsible for providing the special education services, including, as applicable, arranging and providing transportation necessary for the student to receive special education services.

Resident students attending public or non-public schools located within the school district may be provided transportation to and from a licensed day care and/or babysitter throughout the school week on a regular basis. Students will be permitted to be picked up at and/or dropped off at their residence (or alternate residence in the case of split households) on some days and one designated child-care location on other days, on a regular set schedule. The district will not honor request for busing to a child-care location outside district boundaries.

The district will honor requests for child-care transportation provided they are made no later than April 1 of the preceding school year. New district residents have 30-days after establishing residency to submit child-care transportation requests. Variances from scheduled transportation will not be considered on a day-to-day basis and, in the discretion of the district, may only be permitted if it results in a new regularly set schedule to and from a child-care location.

District transportation services will be used to transport students to and from sports and filed trips when public funds are available and expended for such purposes. The district reserves the right to use vehicles other than school buses or to contract for outside transportation services when:

• private funds are used to sponsor an event
• a school bus is not available
• a school bus is inappropriate for the trip, (i.e.) ski club, music orchestra and class trips of substantial length.

When private funds are used to sponsor an event, such private organizations may use district buses with the approval of the Board of Education. Such organizations may use volunteers to drive school buses provided such volunteers are duly licensed, or may hire district transportation services at the contract rates. The district reserves the right to require private organizations to use district transportation services if it deems necessary.

Where intervening circumstances have made transportation back to the point of departure or to the appropriate school in the district impractical, a representative of the district shall remain with the student until such student’s parent or legal guardian has been contacted and the student has been delivered to his/her parent or guardian. The coach or chaperone must adjust the trip roster accordingly to account for students not utilizing District provided transportation.

Students may be transported by their parents or guardian to and/or from sports or field trips provided that the activity coordinator (i.e.) the coach, teacher or chaperone, receives written notice on a district-developed form from the parent or guardian in advance of the activity. The activity coordinator will adjust the trip roster accordingly to account for such students.

A student who wishes to be transported to and/or from a sports or field trip by someone other than the student’s parent or guardian must provide the activity coordinator with written notice from the student’s parent or guardian. The notice must be completed on a district-developed form in advance of the activity. The permission must specifically name the person who is authorized to transport the student. The notice must also include that the child will be transported by the other party to the activity, from the activity or both. This notice shall relieve the district from any liability based upon such transportation. Any person who is designated to drive a student who is not their own child must sign a consent form, in advance, accepting responsibility for the transportation of such students.