Jerome Joint School District No. 261

NONINSTRUCTIONAL OPERATIONS 8110

Safety Busing

Safety busing is the transportation of a student who lives less than one and one-half (1 1/2) miles from school when, in the judgment of the Board of Trustees, the age or health and/or safety of the students warrants such action.

The Board of Trustees will only consider requests for safety busing for students living less than one and one-half (1 1/2) miles from school when one or more of the following criteria are met:

1. unsupervised crossing of a heavily traveled multi-lane roadway requiring beyond-age-level comprehension of complex traffic hazards;

2. walking along an arterial road and highway permitting fifty-mile-per-hour speeds;

3. crossing an intersection in competition with a high volume of right turning vehicles without the benefit of adult supervised crossing;

4. walking in the traffic lane of an arterial or collector street because of the absence of sidewalks or usable shoulders which are at least three (3) feet wide;

5. walking beside or over unprotected waterways;

6. walking routes which are temporarily interrupted by major road construction, building construction, or utility construction;

7. walking routes interrupted by numerous high traffic volume business driveways;

8. other unique circumstances or extraordinary factors.

The existence of any of the above criteria does not automatically qualify an area for safety busing. The Board of Trustees may also consider evaluation factors including but not limited to: traffic count, traffic gap times, posted speed, width of roadway, width of walking area, length of time student would be exposed to area of concern, age of pupils, number of pupils, and traffic control signs and markings, as well as written comments from parents, patrons, and school personnel prior to a vote on the issue. Further, the Board of Trustees shall consider the criteria set out in its measuring and scoring instrument, with an appropriate “cut off” for safety busing purposes when the scoring element used indicates hazards that are “reasonable” for students to encounter during their walk to and from school, which by this reference is incorporated and attached to this policy as Policy 8110F.

Each year, no later than the regular board meeting in August, the Board of Trustees shall review and vote on all requests for new safety busing locations. The Board may annually approve the formation of an ad hoc supplemental transportation committee for the purpose of objectively evaluating all hazardous routes less than 1.5 miles from the students’ home to school, using the Board approved measuring instrument. The Superintendent or their designee is directed to review all existing safety busing locations at intervals of at least every three years.

Cross Reference: 8100 Transportation

8120 Bus Routes, Stops and Non-Transportation Zones

Legal Reference: I.C. § 33-1501 Transportation Authorized

Other Reference: Standards for Idaho School Buses and Operations

Policy History:

Adopted on: 12/19/2006

Revised on: 05/26/2015

Revised on: 02/25/2020

Revised on: 08/25/2020

Revised on: 07/17/2026