Safety Tips and Guidelines | Penn-Harris-Madison School Corporation Skip to main content

Safety Tips and Guidelines

 

Please take a moment to watch the video above with your child and review these safety tips and guidelines so that we can ensure a safe and enjoyable year for all our student bus riders!

  • Bus transportation is provided to all students residing in our school district.  Your child will be assigned to a bus route and have a designated bus stop for daily use.  Designated corner bus stops are used in higher populated areas and on dead-end roads or cul-de-sacs.

  • A student may be assigned to two bus routes if, for example, the student travels from home to school in the morning and from school to a daycare site in the afternoon.  In order to ensure student safety, we cannot follow complex daycare schedules that would involve more than two routes.

  • Any student wishing to ride a different bus route on a given day (for example, to go home with a classmate) MUST submit a written note from the parent; this note must be approved by the school and Transportation Department, and then the approved note is given to the bus driver. Students attempting to ride without a note will be sent to the school office.

  • Bus service is not provided outside any of the school boundaries.  Students who receive approval to transfer to a P-H-M school in an attendance area other than where they reside must also arrange their own transportation.

  • Parents are not permitted to board the school bus unless they are acting as chaperones for a field trip and have prior approval by the school.

 


BUS RIDER Do’s and Don’ts

Indiana Statute states, “When school children are being transported on a school bus, they are under the supervision, direction and control of the school bus driver and are subject to disciplinary measures by the bus driver and the governing body of the School Corporation.”  Please make your children aware they MUST follow the bus driver’s directions and transportation procedures.

  • Students must be waiting at their designated bus stop 10 minutes prior to the scheduled bus stop time. Buses are on time schedules that do not allow for waiting – if a student is not out at the designated bus stop at the scheduled time, the bus driver will be unable to wait.

  • While waiting for a bus at the bus stop, students must stand back a reasonable distance, refrain from any horseplay and be respectful of other’s property. Any student found destroying private property will be disciplined.

  • Students must board the bus in an orderly manner and immediately take their seats. Students may transport musical instruments only if they can be held on the student’s lap or stored under the seat without violating safety considerations. Animals, balloons, special displays or posters, and class projects or unusually large size items are not acceptable for transportation. Bus aisles must be kept clear at all times.

  • Windows and doors on the school bus shall not be opened except with the permission of the driver. No objects of any kind, whether a body part or piece of paper, is allowed to be placed or thrown out the window.

  • When boarding or leaving a school bus and the student must cross a street, students must cross at least ten feet in front of the bus. Prior to crossing the street; the bus must be completely stopped, the stop arm extended, and the students must look to the driver for approval to cross. Note: The Penn-Harris-Madison Transportation Dept. utilizes video cameras on all school buses and will view such video in disciplinary cases.

 


BUS RIDER CONDUCT GUIDELINES

  • Follow directions given by the bus driver

  • Stay seated, facing front in selected or assigned seat. Do not sit with your feet in the aisle. The aisles must be kept clear at all times

  • Keep hands, feet, books, pencils, etc. to yourself. Students shall not bully, intimidate, harass, fight, push, trip or hit any other student

  • If the bus driver can recognize your voice, you are talking too loud

  • No eating, drinking or use of any prohibited material will be permitted on the school bus.Rude, discourteous or annoying behavior, and profane or obscene language/gestures will not be tolerated on the bus

  •  Destruction of property, vandalism, theft of property not belonging to student, or tampering with bus equipment is not permitted. Parents will be billed for damages caused by their child/children

  • No throwing of objects of any kind while on the school bus or out the windows

  • No spitting, littering or leaving trash on the bus

  • Windows can be opened only with the approval of the school bus driver

  • Other behavior(s) jeopardizing to the safety and respect of others will not be tolerated

 


BUS RIDER CONSEQUENCES

If students choose to break the Bus Conduct Guidelines, it may result in any or all of the following steps:

  • Assigned or Reassigned seat by bus driver
  • Parent phone call by the bus driver and/or principal phone call/letter
  • Verbal Reprimand by driver and/or school principal
  • Parent conference
  • Written bus referral
  • Before/After school detention
  • Bus suspension and/or out of school suspension. During suspension periods, it is the responsibility of the parent or guardian to provide transportation for the student to and from school.

 

Severe behavior such as violence, defiance of the bus driver’s instructions, destruction of property, or interference with the safe operation of the school bus on the part of any student or parent chaperone will result in immediate removal from transportation services.