Most of us send children to school via school bus due to safety reasons. But the fact is that, you don't know basic facts about your child's school transportation. You never try to know where your child is going, who is going along with them, and what happens when they reach the destination.
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Here follows 12 questions that every parent should ask before the school bus trip and entire academic year:
1. At What Time will the School Bus Come?
You should ask school authorities about the arrival time of school bus before your child's first school day. Sometimes, transportation officials will never let you know about the delay in child's pick up. Hence as a parent, you should know these details in advance. You can ask the school transportation authorities about the bus scheduling in advance and thus send the child to the school bus at that time. Try to find out the exact time you should pick up your child from the stop.
2. Who will be on the School Bus with your Child?
A driver and an aide will always be there with your child for assuring school bus safety. You can interact with them, introduce yourselves and ask for their names. This can be helpful as you can tell them certain information they need to know such as a medical problem, behavioral problem etc. Also tell them to report any problems that happen on the school bus.
3. How Child's Behavior on the Bus?
Make sure your child has an appropriate seat if your child is small or having low muscle bones. You need to fix this issue with the relevant authorities and should be decided before the child's first day of school. Also, in the case of older children, the bus seat given to them should be appropriate and comfortable. For kids in wheelchairs, you should ask bus personnel, whether there are enough equipments for getting your child on and off the bus.
4. Which Route is taken by School Bus for Getting to School?
Try to learn the school bus route yourself by following the bus on the first day. This can help you to find about stops and check out the route to the school bus takes. You can complain to school authorities if the chosen route is a complicated one.
5. What Time the Bus Gets to School?
You cannot assume that the school bus reaches the school at the perfect time. For knowing about this in detail, you can build a good relationship with teachers and bus personnel. You can ask them about the schedule and thus know whether there is any change in it or not.
6. Where Do Your Kids Go After Getting Off the Bus?
As kids get off the bus, they sometimes go to auditoriums or canteen than going straight to classrooms. For the safety of your child in school bus, you can ask school authorities to provide an aide to make sure that they reached classroom rather than roaming here and there.
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7. Are all of my Child's Classmates on the Same Bus?
It is a good idea to keep your child's classmates on the same bus. But it is not possible. You can discuss with your child about their bus journey. This will help them to remember which students are on which bus and the number of the bus your child's classmates are on.
8. When Does the Bus Leave to Come Home?
As a parent, you should confirm the departing time of the bus so that you can plan to pick them up accordingly. Sometimes children in extra classes dismiss their classes earlier than the regular school schedule.
9. Which Route does the Bus, Take Home?
Usually, school buses take the same route to school as it takes from school. Your child may sometimes get on a different bus to get down to different location. In such case, you should find out the route that particular bus takes, and thus you can have a general idea about where your child is.
10. What Time will the Bus Return?
It is your responsibility to make sure that somebody greets your child when they are dropped from the school bus. Always know the exact time by which the school bus return and thus makes proper arrangements to pick them.
11. Who Takes Complaints?
You can ask contact details of school authorities and thus register complaints at the time of emergency. Thus you can contact them, if there is any problem in school bus transportation.
12. Is School Bus Ride the Best Choice for Your Child?
School bus is the best one for kids in special education. If you have the ability to transport your child yourself, then better do that task than sending your child via school bus.
All these 12 questions should be asked to relevant authorities at the right time for ensuring a safe journey for your child.
