Transportation

Vicksburg Community Schools Transportation Guidelines

Bus Riders Safety Guide Parents & Students

Our goal is to help provide a safe and enjoyable experience for students who ride the school buses. Parents are responsible for reading and discussing this material with their student. Riding the school bus is a privilege provided for students and should be treated as such. To ignore these rules will result in disciplinary action or suspension of the privilege.

General Rules

1. Obey the instructions of the bus driver at all times.
2. Board and leave the bus at designated stops only.
3. Ride only the bus to which you are assigned.
4. Any student attempting to ride a bus which he/she is not assigned must be approved by the school office and a bus transfer will be issued. HS/MS students are not to ride a different bus for social purposes.
5. Students may be required to walk up to a mile to arrive at the bus stop.

Conduct on the Bus

1. Be respectful and follow directions of the driver at all times.
2. Stay seated facing front with your feet on the floor.
3. Keep all parts of their bodies inside the bus and out of the aisles.
4. No use of abusive or profane language or gestures.
5. Speak only in conversational voices and remain quiet at all railroad crossings, bus stops and locations designated by the driver.
6. No eating, drinking or chewing gum.
7. No throwing objects inside the bus or out of the windows.
8. Be responsible for damage he/she causes to school buses, personal or public property.
9. Keep all pop cans, plastic bottles & food items in a closed lunch bag/backpack.
10. Keep toys or special items for school projects packed safely for bus transport.
11. Only with driver permission may you use headsets or play iPods, MP3’s etc. (headsets are not to be worn while in the loading zone, especially during crossing.
12. Enter and exit the bus only by the front door, except in an emergency or when directed by the driver

Prohibited Items

1. Tobacco/Alcohol/Illegal substances of all kinds.
2. Firearms, knives, ammunition, explosives.
3. Open flames (lighters, matches, etc.)
4. Live animals or insects.
5. Food and/or drinks.
6. Helium filled/floating balloons
7. No wooden or metal bats, tennis rackets, lacrosse sticks, unless they fit in an equipment bag.
8. No skateboards/skis/snowboards or rollerblades/skates.
9. No baseballs, basketballs or footballs etc. Unless they are in an equipment bag. No loose objects that can roll around the bus.
10. Any object too large to be carried by the student and held on lap.

Bus Transfers

A bus transfer is for child care purposes only and must be issued from the school office in order for students to ride a different bus or get off the bus at a stop other than their assigned stop. The transfer must be given to the driver when boarding the bus.

Cell Phones/Cameras/Recording Devices

The use of cameras and recording devices are prohibited while on the bus. Cell phones are not to be used unless deemed an emergency by the driver. Parents please do not text your child to get off the bus because you are at the school to pick them up, call the transportation office and we will radio the driver to let them off.

Route /Bus Stop Changes

All requests for route or stop changes should be directed to the Transportation Office. Drivers may not make changes to bus routes without the Transportation Directors approval.

Procedures For Waiting For The Bus

1. Parents are responsible for making sure their student arrives at the bus stop ten (10) minutes prior to scheduled pick up time. (The driver will not honk the horn or wait for students as we need to keep a schedule)
2. Stand back off the roadway or on the sidewalk. Don’t stand closer than 10’ to the road.
3. Wait for the bus to come to a complete stop before moving towards the bus to enter.
4. If you miss the bus, go home immediately.
5. Parents are responsible for providing transportation if a student misses the bus.

Loading/Unloading The Bus

1. Do not push or shove.
2. Use handrail.
3. Use the jump seat: at the next stop move quickly to another seat, the bus will not move until all students are seated.
4. When you are ready to exit the bus, remain seated until it has come to a complete stop.
5. Use the handrail and take one step at a time.

Crossing Procedures

1. When crossing the street, walk forward 10 feet and wait for the driver direction (by hand signal).
2. Walk to the middle of the bus, stop and look for the driver’s direction (by hand signal).
3. Look both directions then proceed with driver's walking sign (two fingers walking).
4. Never cross behind the bus.

Discipline Procedures

Steps and consequences for improper conduct on the school bus.

1. Verbal warning.
2. Assigned seats
3. If verbal warnings and/or assigned seats aren’t successful, the driver may send a pre- written conduct report home with the student or the transportation office will issue a written warning.
4. After a third written warning, the student will receive a suspension of their bus riding privileges.
5. Serious violations that could endanger health and safety of students on the bus could result in an immediate suspension of a student’s bus riding privileges.

The Transportation Director has the authority to skip steps for serious violations.

Why be a bus driver? 

Drivers receive:

• Great pay
• Free Training
• Paid Sick and Personal Days
• Paid Holidays
• No work on weekends
• No work summers or during Christmas break, spring break, or snow days.
• Able to be part of an elite and close-knit team in the Transportation Department.

Interested?  Got questions to have answered? Talk to Karen McKinstry at 269-321-1075 or click her contact info to send an email.

Click here to apply for a driver’s position.