Be sure to find out what the procedure is for identifying young bus riders. Make sure your child has your information on their back pack (I laminated a tag with his name, school, address, & phone number), find out how children are placed on the buses and taken off to ensure there are no mix ups.
I am suggesting this because I had my child lost last year in a large city school bus system. A substitue driver, miscommunication, and bad directions lead my district to change their policies... Can you imagine being told your 5 yo was dropped off at home and he was in fact NOT at home??
I actually drove Trevor to school until they could ensure his safety... Guess I was a lazy parent.
Do not want to freak any of you out, but it was something I didn't put much thought in until Trevor was lost. Once a policy was in place, he went back to riding the bus.
Re: PSA for parents with children who will be bused
oh, I DID!!! I was pretty close to calling the police ... He was on a random bus for 2.5 hours, who knows where in the city... LIVID!!! Heads did roll.
Trevor was as that time a special education student , this added an extra layer to the situation. Hope your boys have a great year!
DD is going to a private school; there are two buses for the entire school that pick the kids up. The K teacher talked talked specifically about bus safety and protocol at the orientation. For the first week, they wear a nametag with bus number, until they get more comfortable.
There has to be a parent with child at pick up in the morning, and parent/guardian at drop off, otherwise, the bus takes child back to school (school has after program, so it's still in operation until 5:00).
Kinder students sit in the first few rows, with an older "buddy" that looks after them in getting on and off the bus (school is K-8).
Teacher has an excel type of sheet that tells her where every student is going, on what day, etc. For example, student #1 goes to aftercare on MWF, and takes bus #8 on T, R. They may not deviate from this AT ALL, unless there is written notification from parents. She makes sure each student goes off to where they should when the bell rings.
Seems like they have a good system in place, so I'm not too worried.
Excellent! This was a very large school with many buses. Mistakes can be made. I was actually waiting at home and knew he was not home. When it got to be 20 minutes late I called. The bus company informed me they had dropped him off... Nightmare.
Just do not want to see anyone go through this.
I remember your story. Horrifying! Glad they have new policies in place!!!!