To determine your bus stop, please contact the Transportation Office at 479-643-2628.
Only authorized personnel are allowed aboard a school bus. Authorized personnel include the driver, transportation department employees, pupils, approved school system personnel, chaperones, and law enforcement officers. The Elkins School District will provide transportation for all students living in our district. Students that transfer into the district or school choice are eligible to ride the district bus if it goes through or by their bus stop but the bus will not deviate from its route to pick up students. Also, transfer students/school choice students may meet the bus at a designated bus stop on their route to catch the bus.
Door to door service will not be provided. Students are asked to walk to certain collection points to board the bus. Drivers are only allowed to make certain collection points to board the bus. Drivers are only allowed to make stops listed on their route sheets. It is very important for you not to make arrangements with drivers to have our child pick up or dropped of at an unauthorized bus stop. This could cause your child to miss the bus if there is a substitute driver.
Elkins School District buses shall be routed to provide the best service for the greatest number of students. However, routes shall be planned to provide the most economical operation of buses with the distance & road conditions being the major criteria for economical routing. Bus routes shall be planned to get within half a mile of the home location of each student if all factors permit. All bus stops shall be at least one-fourth of a mile apart except in the case of routes on principal highways. The superintendent is authorized to suspend this policy if it is in his/her judgment that the safety of the students and or bus indicates additional stops. In case of inclement weather, additional stops will be made to pick up and discharge a student at a point on the route nearest to his/her home. The Transportation Supervisor is authorized to plan bus routes within the policies of the board and to change routes at any time when, in his/her judgment better service can be provided for a greater number of students by such change. Drivers are not to change their routes in any manner unless a dangerous situation arises on their route and they feel that the bus stop or route will endanger a student or the bus, and then they must notify the Transportation Supervisor immediately of the situation.
The parent is required to get the student to their assigned stop on time. Student should be prepared for the bus to arrive from 5 minutes earlier to 5 minutes later than the schedule. In case of severe weather, the district cannot guarantee that buses will run on schedule. We appreciate your cooperation and understanding when weather-related delays occur. Drivers are not to wait for students at bus stops as this causes a delay in picking up other students on the route and arriving late to school.
Parents are encouraged to monitor their child at the bus stop. Please remind your child to stand on the sidewalk or the edge of the street by the curb, avoid standing on private property, be watchful of traffic, and never talk to anyone he or she does not know. Students and parents are asked to report any suspicious activity or anything else that makes you feel uncomfortable to the Transportation Office or police, if necessary. Please accompany very young children to the bus stop and meet them on their return from school when possible. Your child’s safety is of paramount importance. Please keep in mind that parents are responsible for their safety to and from the bus stop.
If your child has a problem on the school bus, they should talk to the driver and explain what is going on. The driver will follow procedures to rectify the situation. If needed, the driver will give a write up concerning the incident to the Transportation Supervisor. After an investigation, he will determine the severity of the problem and action taken accordingly. A pupil’s transportation privilege may be suspended or revoked if conduct creates a disruption or safety hazard on the school bus. School transportation is a privilege and to maintain this privilege, a student must abide by established bus conduct rules. These rules are found in the student handbook.