Committee orders AR language to require designated emergency stops and parent notification after hazardous-stop incidents

The policy committee discussed multiple transportation operational issues and directed staff to add explicit language to the administrative regulation requiring previously assigned emergency locations and parent/guardian notification when stops are relocated for hazardous or emergency conditions.

Committee members raised several safety concerns: a past winter incident where a student with special needs was left at an emergency stop and later found by a neighbor; substitute drivers who did not follow the usual route and created unsafe crossings in neighborhoods with no sidewalks; and concerns about bus drivers’ incident-reporting timelines.

The Transportation Director (staff) said that when emergency stops are activated today the district now sends email notifications and that the transportation office can monitor routes, noting improved communications since the earlier incident. Still, committee members asked that the AR explicitly require that: previously designated assigned emergency locations be used when a stop must be moved; communication be disseminated to parents and guardians in a timely manner; and that staff confirm substitute drivers are provided full route instructions. One committee member suggested a not-later-than timeframe (for example, 24 hours) for completing incident reports, but staff preferred the working phrase currently in the AR — that incident reports be completed “as soon as possible” — because of operational realities (drivers finish routes and may complete reports afterward). Staff agreed to review operational practices and return with an update.

The committee also discussed bus-driver responsibilities for discipline, radio communications, training hours (noting that contracted drivers currently receive three hours of training) and the district’s handbook approach. The committee did not adopt a new, specific incident-report deadline at this meeting but asked transportation staff to formalize emergency-stop notification language and to report back on operational fixes and training updates before the next school year.