December 1, 2006
Dear Driver:
As you may have heard, the final draft of school bus student discipline procedures has been completed. Several meetings, consisting of drivers, principals, assistant principals, route coordinators, an area director and me, formulated a plan for a consistent approach for handling school bus referrals.
Attached you will find a summary of our intense meetings. The approach is in effect when we return from winter break, January 3, 2007. A letter acknowledging the mutual responsibility signed by the parent and student will be returned to you, the bus driver, the week of December 11, 2006. Please collect these forms and turn in to the respective school.
The discipline procedure must start with you – the school bus driver. It is imperative you are consistent, fair, and firm. Your packet includes student and parent responsibilities as well as driver and school responsibilities. A formal warning letter has been developed to assist in the progressive discipline.
As a review:
It may be necessary to “remind” students of proper behavior. Younger children may require several “reminders”. When the reminders are not effective, a formal one-on-one verbal warning is implemented with: “Johnny, this is your verbal warning.” This should be clear and direct to the student.
Changing the student’s seat is the next step.
A written warning to the student is the third step.
A referral to the school administrator.
Please understand, any serious offense (fighting, etc) requires a referral immediately. These will be handled by the school in the same manner as they are now.
I would like to thank everyone who participated in these meetings. It was a lot of work with a successful result. If you have any questions regarding the procedures, please feel free to contact your Route Coordinator or me.
Sincerely,
Karen Strickland
General Manager
KS:dhk
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