Bus Safety & Ridership
We are deeply committed to providing accurate and timely transportation information. For safety reasons, we do not post bus routes to our websites. Instead, school administrators will send bus routes directly to parents via Bright Arrow - the districts communication service.
All students must be registered to ride the bus. Parents and guardians must complete a bus request form available at your child’s school. Students who are not registered to ride the bus will not be transported. We ask that students arrive at their bus stops 10 minutes prior to their scheduled pick-up times and keep in mind that traffic flow, road construction or other factors may sometimes cause delays.
Student Safety
In compliance with South Carolina law, and for the purpose of gathering information, each school district must provide parents or guardians of a student who boards or disembarks a school bus at a stop access to the nationwide Sex Offender Registry.
Bus Route Change Request Forms
Bus route change request forms received after the first week in August will not be implemented for the first day of school. Beginning the second week of August, bus route change requests will be implemented in the order in which they are received. During the first several weeks of the new school year, routes will be updated each Monday. Thereafter, and throughout the school year, it may take up to five school days to establish bus route changes.
Ridership status and/or bus stops are subject to cancellation after five consecutive school days of no ridership. If your child will be absent from bus service for more than five days and you’d like to keep his or her status active, please notify the school office. Students must ride the bus at least once every five days in order to remain active.
Important Information About Student Ridership
Before the first day of school, make sure your child knows their bus stop location, school bus number and telephone number, and understands the district policy for bus ridership. Please read the SS-19 Student Code of Conduct on Buses and discuss it with your child. Repeated disciplinary violations could result in a student not being allowed to ride the bus if they do not abide by the Code.
The district enrolls students new throughout the year. As a result, adjustments to bus routes, pick-up and drop-off times, or the addition of buses and routes may need to be made to make your child’s ride more convenient. After the first 20 school days, state law prohibits the District from operating overloaded school buses. If we need to make adjustment, we will do so after the first two weeks of school and notify you accordingly.
If your child needs to be dropped off somewhere other than your home (a neighbor’s house or day care center for example), you must apply for an exception. You can do this by filling out a Special Request Form available at your child’s school. This form must be submitted, signed and approved by a school administrator at your child’s school before the Transportation Office can make any route changes. This process may take three to five days.
We transport students for child care purposes only if we have the space available and only within your child’s attendance area. The District will let you know by the third week of the school year if we can accommodate your request. If your child wants to go home one afternoon with another child who rides a different school bus, you need to check with the appropriate school official (usually an assistant principal) at your child’s school. Please do not send your child to school with a permission slip giving him/her permission to ride another bus without first checking with that school official.
Prekindergarten and kindergarten students ride the regular elementary school buses that serve your street. They board and depart those buses at the regular bus stops. A parent, guardian or person (third grade or older) authorized by a parent/guardian must accompany each prekindergarten and kindergarten student to the bus stop and put that student on the school bus each morning. A parent, guardian or a person (third grade or older) authorized by a parent/guardian must also meet each prekindergarten and kindergarten student at the school bus stop in the afternoon.