Frequently Asked Questions

We can be reached via phone at 402-238-2902 or visit our Contact Information page.

Any student that lives within district boundaries and is more than a 1-mile walk from their school of attendance is eligible for transportation. In some cases, students living less than 1 mile from their school of attendance may become eligible if they meet certain criteria in their walk to school. Please contact us for more information.

Unfortunately, district policy is that we do not provide transportation for option enrollment students. Students must live at a residence within district boundaries to be eligible for bussing.

Unfortunately, district policy is that we do not provide transportation for inter-district transfer students. This is notated on the inter-district transfer form that must be filled out and approved by district administration. Bussing can only be provided to and from the school that your student is assigned to based on the boundary your address falls within.

For example, if your residence falls within the boundary for Bennington Middle School, your student can be bussed to and from BMS. However, if you elect for your student to attend Bennington South Middle School, we cannot transport your student. There are no buses that service BSMS that have pickup or drop off points within the BMS boundary.
 

You can sign your student up for bussing during the online registration process that is completed through Synergy each year before school starts. Make sure to designate that riding the bus is your student’s daily routine in the Transportation section. You can also contact us to assist you with updating this information. 

No. We understand that plans change. You may have originally intended to take your student to school each day, but a sudden change in work schedule leaves you unable to do so. As long as the bus your student would ride is not at capacity, we can add your student at any point during the school year. Please contact us for assistance. You may also contact the secretary at your student’s school to help you with making this change. 

Students whose residence is 4+ miles from their school of attendance shall be provided transportation at no charge (free transportation). This keeps the district in compliance with Nebraska State Statute 79-611. Please note that the statute states this must be calculated by the shortest drivable distance from the residence to the school. Per district policy, temporary road closures are not considered when measuring this distance. 

Students whose residence is less than 4 miles from their school of attendance, are eligible for transportation, and elect to pursue it, do so at a cost. This cost is $175/per student per semester. There is a maximum cost of $350/per family per semester, so the 3rd plus any additional students in a household are not charged for transportation services.

Transportation fees may be reduced for children eligible for free or reduced price lunches or breakfasts under the School Breakfast and Lunch Program Act (or extenuating circumstances) upon request. An approved application and sharing information waiver must be on file with Nutrition Services before any fees can be discounted. Please contact us for more information. 

Transportation billing is typically completed around the end of the first quarter each school year. Invoices are added to a student’s My School Bucks account. Due to the length and complexity of completing this task, transportation fees for the entire school year are billed at this time. There is no expectation that the invoice be paid in full at the time of billing. Families are welcome to make payments over time on a weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly basis. We just ask that fees are paid in full by the last day of school. 

Unfortunately, all students in your household will be placed on a waiting list until the balance is paid in full or you have contacted us to arrange a payment plan. Status checks will be conducted on payment plans. If we find that payments are not being made in accordance with the agreement that is made, your student may be removed from their route and placed back on a waitlist status. 

Please contact us to cancel bussing for your student. We will get them removed from the route and adjust transportation fees accordingly. If fees have been paid in full, a refund will be issued for the amount that was overpaid. 

Letters with route information are mailed out one week prior to the first day of school. If you have not received your letter within two days of school starting, please contact us so that we can relay that information to you. If your student is added to a route after letters have been mailed or during the school year, we will email route information to you. 

Yes. We generally add students to both the AM and PM runs when we route them, but we can route them as AM or PM only at your request. Please note that there is not a discounted cost for this option. Fees are still invoiced at the same pricing detailed above. 

No, we do not provide an occasional ridership option. Students must be signed up as an authorized bus rider to ride. This is for safety and accountability reasons. 

The route information letters that are mailed out will contain your student’s specific route number and pick up time. Please review this information with your student and make sure he or she commits that information to memory. 

All buses have signs that designate the route number.

In the past, color-coded signs were placed in service door windows that designated the route number and the school that was serviced. To ensure we are meeting federal and state guidelines, those signs will no longer be utilized moving forward. 

New route number signs have been placed to the left of the service door on every bus in the district. Please make sure your student knows where to look. An example has been provided below….. 

Students are expected to be at their designated stop 5 minutes prior to their scheduled pick up time. This is to ensure that they can load promptly when the bus arrives and prevent delays.

For example, if the bus is supposed to pick up at your student’s stop at 7:30am, please make sure they are outside waiting at 7:25am.

We strive to ensure that every bus route runs smoothly and on schedule, however, unforeseen circumstances do arise. A bus may run into a mechanical issue that needs to be addressed before leaving the bus barn for route or it may run into issues such as an accident, heavy traffic, or road blockages along the way. In the event a bus is running late, here is our protocol for these situations: 

1. Please have your student wait at their stop for up to 10 minutes past their scheduled pick up time. 
2. Drivers are responsible for notifying dispatch if they are running late by more than 5 minutes. This allows us to monitor their progress along the route. There is some buffer built into the routes that may allow them to make up some of the delay. 
3. If delays reach a point where they exceed 10+ minutes, a message will be sent to families through Parent Square notifying them the status of their student’s bus. 
4. In the event the delay reaches an excessive amount of time, other buses will be dispatched to assist with getting students picked up and brought to school. 
5. Information regarding late buses will also be communicated to the appropriate school. This allows school staff to ensure students are excused from being marked tardy and hold breakfast for any student who may need it.

If your student misses the bus due to not being at their stop, you will be expected to find an alternative ride for them to school. Buses that arrive within 1 minute before their scheduled stop time or later will not return to the stop again. 

If a bus arrives and departs a stop excessively early (2+ minutes) or completely misses a stop, the bus will be sent back to pick up students that were missed. 

Yes. The routing system we utilize has a website and parent app called My Ride K-12. This allows you to track the bus location in real time. It also provides notifications for where and when your student loaded/unloaded the bus. 

To set up an account, click here to be taken to the parent user guide. The URL for the website is https://myridek12.tylerapp.com/ if you wish to utilize this option. Please contact us for your student’s ID number or any other information you may need to get your account setup properly. 

Yes. Students are required to scan their bus pass when loading and unloading the bus. Failure to adhere to bus pass policy may result in a bus write-up.

Yes. Authorized bus riders will not be denied a ride if they forget or lose their bus pass. Your student will be expected to provide his/her name to the bus driver when loading and/or unloading so that the driver can manually enter them into the tablet that is used to track attendance. 

Drivers are instructed to encourage and remind students to utilize their bus pass. Repeated failure to do so may result in a bus write-up. 

Your student will need to request a replacement bus pass with the school office. You may also contact our office to request a replacement pass. The cost for a replacement bus pass is $25.

Drivers are encouraged to give students 2 days to find a lost pass. A 3rd consecutive day with no pass may result in a bus write-up and allows us to get the replacement process started. 

At times, the RFID strip inside the cards we use fails. It can also be damaged if the card gets bent or cracked. If this happens to your student’s pass, please have them return it to the school office. They will send it back to our office and we will issue a replacement at no charge. 

No, unfortunately we cannot allow them to ride. Students must be signed up as an authorized bus rider to ride one of our buses. This is for safety and accountability reasons. 

Students are expected to ride on their assigned bus ONLY. In fact, the tablets we utilize will alert the driver of an unauthorized rider if a student attempts to scan their bus pass on another bus.

However, we understand that emergencies or other extenuating circumstances may arise. Please contact us in these situations and provide us with details. If deemed necessary, we can authorize your student to temporarily ride on a different bus. We will communicate pertinent information to drivers as needed.

Students are expected to get off at their assigned stop only. The tablet will alert the driver if a student attempts to unload at a stop other than the one that has been assigned to them. Drivers are instructed to remind them that they are unloading at the wrong stop and encourage them to remain on the bus. However, they cannot and will not force your student to stay on the bus. Getting off at a stop other than the one that’s been assigned is grounds for a bus write-up.

Again, we understand that emergencies or other extenuating circumstances may arise. Please contact us in these situations and provide us with details. If deemed necessary, we can authorize your student to temporarily unload at a different stop. We will communicate pertinent information to drivers as needed. 

Please talk to your student about these scenarios. The first thing your student should do in either one is to remain seated on the bus. When it is safe to do so, usually at the next stop or when the bus stops at an intersection, they should approach the driver and communicate what happened.

If the driver missed the stop, they will need to reroute immediately to return to the missed stop.

If the student failed to unload at their assigned stop when the bus was there, how to proceed is at the discretion of the driver. Some drivers may reroute immediately and return to your student’s stop prior to completing the remainder of the route. Others may complete the remainder of the route and then return your student back to their stop. If drivers choose the latter, they are expected to notify dispatch that your student missed their stop and that they will return after dropping off all other students. We will contact you to notify you of what happened and provide an ETA on when your student will be returned back to their stop.

If your student reaches out to you or you notice on the parent app, please contact us immediately. We will work to communicate with you and the driver to ensure the situation is resolved.

 Please talk to your student about these scenarios. The first thing your student should do in either one is to remain seated on the bus. When it is safe to do so, usually at the next stop, they should approach the driver and communicate what happened. 

If the driver missed the stop, they will need to reroute immediately to return to the missed stop.

If the student failed to unload at their assigned stop when the bus was there, how to proceed is at the discretion of the driver. Some drivers may reroute immediately and return to your student’s stop prior to completing the remainder of the route. Others may complete the route and then return your student back to their stop. 

If drivers choose the latter, they are expected to notify dispatch that your student missed their stop and that they will return after dropping off all other students. We will contact you to notify you of what happened and provide an ETA on when your student will be returned back to their stop. 

If your student reaches out to you or you notice on the parent app, please contact us immediately. We will work to communicate with you and the driver to ensure the situation is resolved. 

Typically, students are allowed to sit anywhere they would like on the bus. However, the driver or school administration may elect to assign seats to maintain a sense of order on the bus.

School administrators may also assign your student a seat for disciplinary reasons if they have had issues following rules or directions on the bus. 

If your student has been assigned a seat, they are expected to sit in that seat until instructed otherwise. Refusal to sit in an assigned seat may result in a bus write-up. 

Yes, buses will still run as scheduled. Stop times will be adjusted to exactly 2 hours later. If your student’s stop time is normally 7:15 am, it will be at 9:15am if a 2-hour late start is declared. 

Buses depart the school 5 minutes after the scheduled dismissal time. If it is typically a 15-minute ride home for your student home on days with standard dismissal time, plan for them to arrive home 15-20 minutes after school dismissal on early release days. 

For example, your elementary rider’s bus leaves at 3:05pm on standard dismissal days and he/she typically arrives home around 3:20pm. Elementary schools dismiss at 11:40am on early release days. Expect your student to arrive home around 12:00pm.

Drivers typically move items that are left behind after route to the front of the bus to be reclaimed on the next run. Please have your student check with their driver to see if the item was found.

Items that go unclaimed are eventually moved to the lost and found of the respective school that a bus services or brought to the Transportation office. You can always contact our office to assist with tracking down lost items. 

Yes, bus rules and expectations are detailed on the Transportation page of the district website.

If your student is having issues with another student on the bus or the driver, please contact us or the school office. We will work diligently to investigate by interviewing the driver, pulling bus footage, or taking any other necessary steps to ensure the situation is addressed. Our hope and desire is that all students have a safe and enjoyable bus riding experience. 

If a student violates a bus rule or expectation, drivers typically start with a verbal warning. They will remind your student of the bus rules and encourage him/her to follow them. We encourage drivers to utilize a “three strike” policy with verbal warnings before submitting an official write-up. 

If the behavior continues after repeated warnings or is egregious enough, a bus write-up will be submitted to Transportation supervision, which is then forwarded to school administration.

Below is our policy for handling bus write-ups, which can also be found in the student handbook:

1. First offense: Verbal warning and reminder of bus expectations from principal.
2. Second offense: Change in assigned seating or other action that may be appropriate to achieve desired behavior. Parents notified. 
3. Third offense: 2-5 day suspension from riding the bus. 
4. Fourth offense: One-week suspension from riding the bus. 
5. Fifth offense: Two-week suspension from riding the bus. 
6. Sixth offense: Suspension from riding the bus for the remainder of the school year.

Other considerations: Extreme or repeated violations may result in the restriction or suspension of bus privileges and other disciplinary measures, up to and including expulsion from the bus. Reports of serious misconduct may be forwarded to law enforcement officers. BPS school buses are monitored by video cameras.