The O’Farrell Charter Schools (“School”) provides transportation to and from School activities. As such, it adopts the following procedures for School personnel to follow to ensure the safe transport of pupils.

Pupil Escorts

When a School’s school bus is stopped on a highway or private road for the purpose of loading or unloading pupils, at a location where traffic is not controlled by a traffic officer or official traffic control signal, the school bus driver shall do the following:  Escort all pupils in transitional kindergarten, kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 8, inclusive, who need to cross the highway or private road upon which the schoolbus is stopped.  The driver shall use an approved hand-held “STOP” sign while escorting all pupils.  

On approach to a school bus stop where pupils are loading or unloading from a school bus, the school bus driver shall activate the hazard lights on the vehicle beginning 200 feet before the school bus stop.  The hazard lights shall operate at all times when the vehicle is stopped for the purpose of loading or unloading pupils.  The hazard lights shall remain on until all pupils are on board the vehicle and the doors are closed.  Pupils will only be allowed to exit or enter the vehicle once the bus driver has determined that it is safe to do so.  

Students shall load or unload the school bus or vehicle at stops designated by the Principal, or his/her designee, for school trip activities.  Students who need to cross the roadway upon which the school bus or vehicle has stopped must walk in front of the school bus or vehicle as they cross.  Before the driver may set the school bus or vehicle back into motion, the driver must ensure that all pupils who have crossed the roadway have done so safely and that all other pupils and pedestrians are at a safe distance from the school bus or vehicle. 

Students boarding and exiting a school bus or vehicle must do so in an orderly manner.  The driver must ensure that all pupils have taken a seat in the school bus or vehicle before setting the school bus or vehicle in motion.

The driver of the school bus or vehicle shall not exit the school bus or vehicle until he/she has visually inspected each seating row of the school bus or vehicle to ensure that no pupil is left unattended on the school bus or vehicle. 

The School is committed to ensuring supervision of its students by an adult at all times.  For each type of use of the school pupil activity bus, the Principal, or his/her designee, will determine how many and what kinds of chaperones are needed, recognizing that a higher number of chaperones will be required for more hazardous activities.  

• The School will base the number of chaperones on an evaluation considering the number of students, age, and maturity of the students, and the types of activities involved
• There should be a minimum of 1 adult chaperone for every 10 students in grades TK-6; 2 adult chaperones for every 20 students in grades 7 - 12