No. While stops are fairly consistent from year to year, changes may be made based on student enrollment.
It is our goal to use all the space on all the buses in our fleet. The term “overloaded” indicates a bus is filled beyond its rated capacity.
All items carried onto a bus must be held on the lap of a student. Articles may not occupy a seat, be under a seat, be in the aisle or block emergency exits.
Band instruments allowed on a bus are those small enough to be held in the student’s lap and not exceed the height of the seat or interfere with the seating space of other students. Hockey and lacrosse sticks, along with bats, golf clubs, sleds, skateboards, skis, snow boards or any other piece of recreational equipment are not allowed on buses for student transportation.
School divisions are not required by law to transport children enrolled in regular education programs. Virginia law outlines the obligations of a school division if its school board elects to provide transportation. The school division is obligated to provide for the transportation of a special education student if an individualized educational program committee has determined that the transportation is a specialized service which is included within the student’s IEP and is necessary to carry it out.
There are no laws or regulations for transporting kindergarten students enrolled in regular education programs. This includes placement of a bus stop.
School board policy specifies the maximum distance a student may walk to the bus stop. The distance used by HCPS is up to 0.3 mile for students in grades K-5 and up to 0.5 mile to a stop for students in grades 6-12. Distances may be farther for cul-de-sacs, subdivisions, dead-ends and one-way roads. Further information about this policy can be found here.
Several important factors are carefully considered when determining the placement of school bus stops. The primary concern is the visibility of buses to other traffic and the consideration of stopping distances necessary for other motor vehicles, to accomplish safe loading and unloading of students. In general, this means continuous visibility on a highway or road where the speed limit is more than 35 miles per hour, and 200 feet where the speed limit is less than 35 miles per hour. There is no state law which specifies a maximum distance between stops.
It is the responsibility of the parent or legal guardian to see that a child gets safely to and from the bus stop. The school division provides transportation as a nonmandated service and establishes placement of bus stops in accordance with the requirements of the law.
Students should arrive at their bus stop at least 5–10 minutes before the scheduled arrival time of their bus.
Only a portion of our buses in our fleet currently have Wi‑Fi capability. These buses are usually assigned to hub routes based on availability, so students may not have a Wi‑Fi–equipped bus every day. We recommend downloading assignments or materials ahead of time in case Wi‑Fi is not available. We are reviewing options to expand Wi‑Fi to more buses and will update families as improvements are made.
