FILE:  EDD

SCHOOL BUS SCHEDULING AND ROUTING

The Lafayette Parish School Board shall provide school bus transportation for all students living more than one mile from the school that they are assigned to attend.  Students living within one mile of the school may be allowed to ride a school bus in accordance with the following bus stop walk distances:

The school district reserves the right to adjust the distances listed above for dead-end streets which are longer than the distances listed above and do not have adequate or safe turnarounds.  Other students may be provided with school bus transportation in accordance with regulations of the Louisiana Department of Education.

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 order of the Superintendent or his/her designee.  Any bus operator who feels a road is unsafe or dangerous shall report such dangerous condition to the Superintendent or his/her designee, and the bus operator may be allowed not to travel the road with the prior approval of the Superintendent or his/her designee, until he/she has determined said road is safe or improved, or the situation has been rectified.

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 shall 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 students either at school or at or near their homes in a manner or in a location that results in students crossing lanes of traffic on a state highway or any other type of street.

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.

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

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

Board minutes, 6-15-94, 4-21-99, 11-4-15, 12-7-16, 8-10-22

Lafayette Parish School Board