FILE:  EDD

 

SCHOOL BUS SCHEDULING AND ROUTING

 

 

The Avoyelles Parish School Board shall provide school bus transportation for any student attending a school of suitable grade within the jurisdictional boundaries of the parish without regard to race, color, national origin, religion, age, sex, or physical handicap.

 

The bus operator and the principal shall work together in establishing bus stops subject to the approval of the Superintendent or his/her designee.  Main thoroughfares, lack of sidewalks, railroads, and other hazards shall be considered in any decisions regarding bus stops.  A reasonable time shall be established for each route and the bus operator shall be expected to adhere to this schedule.  By the same token, students shall be expected to be at their respective bus stop when the bus arrives.  Once a bus route has been established, the bus operator shall not alter or change assigned routes without authorization from the Superintendent or his/her designee.

 

Buses must be routed so that no more than one bus will travel the same route, except in cases of definite apparent necessity.  Each scheduled route will be planned in full consideration of the established limits for individual schools.

 

During inclement weather bus operators may make more frequent stops.

 

LOADING AND UNLOADING OF STUDENTS

 

The loading and unloading of students onto and from school buses being utilized to transport students shall be conditional on the following:

 

  1. Bus operators shall be prohibited from loading or unloading students at school while the bus is in a traffic lane of any type of street as defined in state law and require that students be loaded or unloaded on a shoulder, in a school parking lot, or at other appropriate off-road location at the school as determined by the School Board.  This requirement shall not apply if the shoulder of a municipal road is the only available alternative and the municipality has not made the shoulder available by designating that area for loading and unloading students during designated school zone hours.

  2. Bus operators shall be prohibited from loading or unloading students at or near their homes while the bus is in a lane of traffic unless the bus is in the lane farthest to the right side of the road so that there is not a lane of traffic between the bus and the right-side curb or other edge of the road.

  3. Bus operators shall be prohibited from loading or unloading a student in a location on a divided highway such that a student, in order to walk between the bus and his/her home or school, would be required to cross a roadway of the highway on which traffic is not controlled by the visual signals on the school bus.

 

Street or highway means the entire width between the boundary lines of every way or place of whatever nature publicly maintained and open to the use of the public for the purpose of vehicular travel, including bridges, causeways, tunnels, and ferries.

 

Revised:  November, 2009 Revised:  October 6, 2015
Revised:  June, 2010 Revised:  September 6, 2022
Revised:  November 5, 2014  

 

 

Ref:    La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §§17:158, 32:1

Louisiana School Transportation Specifications and Procedures, Bulletin 119, §903, §1501, Louisiana Department of Education

Board minutes, 9-6-76, 11-9-76, 8-20-09, 1-5-10, 5-4-10, 9-7-10, 11-2-10, 11-5-14, 10-6-15, 9-6-22

 

Avoyelles Parish School Board