Transportation

West Geauga Local Schools provides transportation for students residing in the district. Morning and afternoon bussing is available to and from the student's primary household address and school building. Students who are open enrolled to the district are not eligible for transportation.

Providing exceptional service to families is a top priority. Routes are carefully planned in a manner to provide safe and efficient bussing for students to and from school each day. Should your current transportation needs change or concerns arise, please first contact the Transportation Department directly. Collaboration together is key for any type of resolution. Contacting during regular office hours via phone (440-729-0026) will provide the quickest response. Emails (schoolbus@westg.org) will be returned as time allows. Messages received outside of office hours or to personal email accounts may cause a delay in response time.

IMPORTANT NEW PROCEDURES

To provide accurate stop times for all families, if your child(ren) does not ride the bus for two (2) consecutive weeks, the student(s) will be removed off of the route. Should circumstances change, please call the transportation office to be placed back on the route. Keep in mind, we will need at least two (2) days notice. You will be contacted by the Transportation office once you are able to utilize the service at the requested address.

Transportation will be provided from a student's primary residence. If there is a shared parenting in place where both parents live in the district and a student will alternate pick up and/or drop off days, a Shared Parenting Request Form must be completed.

Safety

Bus Drivers are required to follow the laws through the Ohio Revised Code (Ohio Revised Code 3301-83-08 C-1). The students who ride the bus are also required to follow these laws.

General Bus Rules

Observe the same conduct you use in the classroom
Be courteous. No profane language will be tolerated
No eating or drinking on the bus
Keep the bus clean
Cooperate with the driver
No smoking/ vaping
Stay seated in your seat
Keep your head, hands and feet inside the bus
Bus drivers are authorized to assign seats

Bus Stops & Designated Places of Safety

Each student shall be assigned a designated place of safety. This is mainly 10 feet off the road when in a driveway. If you have a group stop, the driver will instruct students as needed.

Bus drivers must account for each student at the designated place of safety before arriving and leaving the bus stop. Upon arrival students should not approach the school bus until motioned to do so by the bus driver.

If your bus stop happens to be at your home, make sure your student is waiting at the designated place of safety five (5) minutes prior to the bus arriving. Students should not wait inside their front doors or garages until the bus arrives. If the student is not present, the bus will not stop.

If your child misses the bus due to lateness, parents should plan to provide transportation for the student. School buses are on a schedule and oftentimes cannot return to a bus stop for students who missed the bus due to lateness. Please do not chase the bus down. This could cause harm and in some cases could be fatal.

Upon drop off, students are not to proceed to their residence until the school bus has completely departed. Students should go directly to their home.

Kindergarten - Grade 2 parents, in an effort to keep our younger students safe, it is the practice of the transportation department not to release students off the bus unless a parent or other designated adult is in view of the driver. In an emergency, if someone else will be meeting your child at their bus stop, please call transportation to let us know and ensure that person has an ID as proof of who they are. Working together we can keep our children safe.

Private School & Special Education

Transportation for private school and special education students is often an individualized service outside of the regular bus routes. Because of this, the following special procedures are in place. Students attending private school should submit a private school transportation form to request service (see below under Parent Forms for the appropriate school your child attends).

If your student is not at the bus stop for more than five (5) days, the transportation department will assume that your child is no longer in need of our services and bus service will stop. The bus will not continue to come down your street to an empty stop and will not resume until we receive a phone call requesting service to continue.

Please notify the Transportation office in the event your child will not need transportation on by calling 440-729-0026.

If your student is the only student attending a particular school, it is important that you contact the Transportation office immediately with any daily changes. If we did not transport your child in the morning, we will assume he or she did not go and we will not go to their school to pick them up, nor will we go back to a school to pick your student up if the school calls to say the bus never showed up for your student if we did not transport them to school. If your student does not need a ride home from school, notify us in advance to avoid the bus from stopping at your child’s school.

Daycares

We have daily routes going to the following daycare centers for students grades KG-5:

Heartland Childcare Center- Chester
Love’s Learning Center- Chester
Miss Pat’s Daycare Center- Chester
YMCA- Westwood Elementary

For the 2023-2024 school year, we will use the daycare transportation information you provided through your Annual Census Review for routing. If there are any changes during the year when you need to add or remove daycare transportation, please provide the main office of your student's building with a Childcare Request Form. The school will let the Transportation department know.

Bus Passes

We do not offer bus passes for events, outside of shared parenting and transportation to local daycare centers. Requests are evaluated based on the availability of seats on a bus. This must be pre-arranged by applying online for service. It’s important to note it could take up to two (2) days to place your student(s) on a route. You will be contacted by the transportation office once you are able to utilize the service at the requested address.

High School Parking Permits

Upon your student receiving a parking permit, he or she will be removed from the bus route. Younger siblings will only be taken off the route after not riding for five (5) consecutive days. In a case where transportation is needed, a parent should call the transportation office after 6:00am to request service. Students may be directed to the closest existing bus stop.

Change of Address

If your family moves within the district and a new residential pick up or drop off address is needed, complete a Change of Address Form or contact the West Geauga Board of Education Office at 440-729-5900 to speak with the Registrar. New proofs of residency will be required to update the address in our data system. After completed, Transportation will need at least two (2) days to reroute your student and will contact you with the new information.