Information for Parents

Who to call

If your child is receiving bus transportation services and will be absent for a day, please contact the bus company directly to let them know your child will NOT be riding the bus. Their numbers are:

Weather/Emergency

or Other Transportation Cancellation

You may also listen to WHUD 100.7 FM radio or you may also go to: www.whud.com, and click on “storm center” to view all cancellations and delays. If we are not offering transportation services, you will see this:

Transportation Change Request

Once bus transportation has started for your child, you will need to work with your program and school district to request changes. Once the completed change request form (F1-C) is submitted, we will work with the bus company to get the change made. Please note that changes cannot be made in less than 48 hours and may require up to two weeks. Once the change has been made, you will receive a phone call from the bus company to let you know about new pick-up/drop-off times, as needed.

If you would like to check on the status of a pending change, please contact us:

Mileage Reimbursement Program

In order to receive mileage reimbursements, parents need to have an agreement with Orange County and submit regular billing forms. In order to claim for Parent Reimbursement, parent transportation must be specified on the child’s Individualized Family Services Plan (IFSP) for Early Education children or the Individual Education Plan (IEP) for Preschool Special Education children. Parents should inform their Ongoing Service Coordinator (EI), or their school district (Preschool) that they are seeking reimbursement for transportation and obtain mileage reimbursement claim forms through them.

Early Intervention

In developing the IFSP, consideration shall first be given to provision of transportation by a parent of a child to early intervention services.

All Early Intervention services are generally provided in the child’s natural environment. In the event that an Early Intervention child requires transportation, the parents are strongly encouraged to provide transportation for their child.

Preschool Special Education Program

As noted in state regulations,

In developing its recommendation for a preschool student with a disability to receive programs and services, the committee must identify transportation options for the student and encourage parents to transport their child at public expense where cost- effective.

Parent/Guardian Responsibilities

We want your child to have a smooth transition from home to service site. In order to achieve this, your child should be ready to board the bus approximately 5 minutes prior to pick-up time.

Drivers are not required to beep their horn. So that everyone can get to the service site on time, please keep in mind that drivers are only permitted to wait for a child a maximum of 2 minutes before proceeding to the next child’s stop.

If for any reason your child will not be attending, please call your bus company (Quality or VW) prior to the scheduled pickup time that day.

The Department of Transportation Safety Regulations do not permit eating and drinking on school buses. This is strictly enforced in our program.

No child may board the bus with anything in their hands. No toys, stickers, or object of any kind can be carried on board. If you are going to send something into school with your child, please put the item in the child’s backpack. This rule is strictly enforced for safety reasons.

Children cannot walk to or from the bus by themselves. A parent, guardian, or an authorized individual over the age of 16 must escort the child to the door of the bus and hand the child to the monitor. Upon returning home, parents or the authorized individual (over the age of 16) must be at the stop to receive the child from the monitor at the door of the bus.

At the time of the drop off, the person at the stop must have a photo ID and must also be on the authorized persons list in order to receive the child. Even if you or the authorized person has shown ID in the past, please make sure to have ID readily available at all times just in case there is a substitute Driver or Monitor.

In the event of an extreme emergency which may require a temporary change in your child’s pick-up/drop-off, please contact our office with the street address, the name of the person authorized to receive your child from the stop, as well as a contact number for that authorized person.
Sick children cannot be transported on the bus. Parents must arrange to pick up a child who arrives at or becomes ill at school.

Parent/Guardian Responsibilities

We want your child to have a smooth transition from home to service site. In order to achieve this, your child should be ready to board the bus approximately 5 minutes prior to pick-up time.

Drivers are not required to beep their horn. So that everyone can get to the service site on time, please keep in mind that drivers are only permitted to wait for a child a maximum of 2 minutes before proceeding to the next child’s stop.

If for any reason your child will not be attending, please call your bus company (Quality or VW) prior to the schedule pickup time that day.

The Department of Transportation Safety Regulations do not permit eating and drinking on school buses. This is strictly enforced in our program.

No child may board the bus with anything in their hands. No toys, stickers, or object of any kind can be carried on board. If you are going to send something into school with your child, please put the item in the child’s backpack. This rule is strictly enforced for safety reasons.

Children cannot walk to or from the bus by themselves. A parent, guardian, or an authorized individual over the age of 16 must escort the child to the door of the bus and hand the child to the monitor. Upon returning home, parents or the authorized individual (over the age of 16) must be at the stop to receive the child from the monitor at the door of the bus.

At the time of the drop off, the person at the stop must have a photo ID and must also be on the authorized persons list in order to receive the child. Even if you or the authorized person has shown ID in the past, please make sure to have ID readily available at all times just in case there is a substitute Driver or Monitor.

In the event of an extreme emergency which may require a temporary change in your child’s pick-up/drop-off, please contact our office with the street address, the name of the person authorized to receive your child from the stop, as well as a contact number for that authorized person.
Sick children cannot be transported on the bus. Parents must arrange to pick up a child who arrives at or becomes ill at school.

Transportation Request Forms

The Transportation Request Form that is needed for each child must be completed for children with “Special Transportation” indicated on their IEP or IFSP, in its entirety, with accurate and up-to-date information. If there are any changes during the course of the school year such as: home address, pick-up or drop-off, location, emergency numbers, work numbers, contact person or babysitter, the ongoing service coordinator and/or service site must be notified immediately in order for changes to be made. It is the school’s responsibility to notify PrismaticSBL of these changes in writing before they can be implemented. For your child’s protection, parents must not ask the driver to make any special arrangements. All requests must be received in writing as described above.

Routing

Routes are established prior to the start of school. Route times are determined not just by distance, but by the location of all children on the route. Routes are not arranged to accommodate parent’s schedules. Bus routes are not arranged according to district, as this is a County-wide program. To keep routes as short as possible, the furthest child from the school on each route is picked up first and dropped off last.

Although there is no State/local law or requirement, our goal is to limit route times to 90 minutes each way when possible. Sometimes this is not feasible due to geographic location, session times, traffic congestion, weather, road construction, and other unforeseen difficulties (therefore route time may exceed our goal).

For preschoolers and EI children; one to five days prior to the start of the transportation service drivers are required to complete a dry run of their route and to notify parents of approximate pick-up and drop-off times. Most of the service sites in this program have “revolving enrollment”. This means that programs accept new students throughout the year and therefore routes and route times are subject to change throughout the school year.

At the beginning of each term (Summer and Fall), transportation tends to be a little bit hectic. Bus Drivers, Bus Monitors, and your child’s program are getting accustomed to their new routes and children, possibly causing delays in loading, unloading and within the route.

Routing

Routes are established prior to the start of school. Route times are determined not just by distance, but by the location of all children on the route. Routes are not arranged to accommodate parent’s schedules. Bus routes are not arranged according to district, as this is a County-wide program. To keep routes as short as possible, the furthest child from the school on each route is picked up first and dropped off last.

Although there is no State/local law or requirement, our goal is to limit route times to 90 minutes each way when possible. Sometimes this is not feasible due to geographic location, session times, traffic congestion, weather, road construction, and other unforeseen difficulties (therefore route time may exceed our goal).

For preschoolers and EI children; one to five days prior to the start of the transportation service drivers are required to complete a dry run of their route and to notify parents of approximate pick-up and drop-off times. Most of the service sites in this program have “revolving enrollment”. This means that programs accept new students throughout the year and therefore routes and route times are subject to change throughout the school year.

At the beginning of each term (Summer and Fall), transportation tends to be a little bit hectic. Bus Drivers, Bus Monitors, and your child’s program are getting accustomed to their new routes and children, possibly causing delays in loading, unloading and within the route.

Bus Drivers

All drivers must complete a safety and training program approved by New York State before they can transport children. This program includes, but is not limited to, the following:

• Fingerprinting
• Background check
• Motor vehicle check
• Physical examination
• Classroom instruction
• Road testing
• Defensive driving review
• Behind the wheel road test

TB testing drug and alcohol screenings, for drivers and monitors are done on pre-employment, post-accident, probable cause, and random basis. In addition each driver and monitor is required to attend special training sessions and two refresher courses yearly where they are instructed in the needs of children being transported.

Bus Monitors

Although not required by law, Orange County provides an additional safeguard by screening monitors under the same strict guidelines that New York State requires bus drivers be screened. The monitor is responsible for:

• Assisting the children on and off the bus (Not from the house to the bus, and not from the bus to the service site). The staff at each service site is responsible for assisting the children on and off at the service site, and the parents/guardians/authorized persons are responsible for assisting the children on and off at home.
• Supervising all the children on the vehicle.
• Assisting in buckling and unbuckling children in and out of car seats and/or seat belts and control over seating arrangements.
• Completing behavior reports pertaining to the children’s behavior on the bus. This report is then sent to the school for preschoolers and the ongoing service coordinator for EI children.
• Although each monitor attends a training course and an annual refresher course, monitors are not trained in First Aid and therefore cannot provide medical assistance of any kind. They are also not permitted to administer medication or transport medication.

Should your child require a special monitor on the bus, your CPSE Chair or Ongoing Service Coordinator can help you complete the necessary paperwork. This documentation will then be forwarded to PrismaticSBL.