Ralston Elementary School

School district policy determines who is eligible for transportation according to the distance from which they live from their school, and their grade level.

Elementary walk in distance is approximately one mile
Middle School walk in distance is approximately two miles
High School walk in distance is approximately two and one half miles
Additionally, the Director of Transportation may assess the route a student must walk to their school. Serious safety hazards that students encounter on that route are considered by an equitable, graded system to determine if additional transportation services are needed within the above walk-in boundaries.

These hazards may include: (1) walking along a roadway, (2) walking on a roadway, (3) crossing certain roadways, and (4) crossing railroad tracks.

Resources to determine services and to collect the data needed include, computerized measurements acquired by pedometers and vehicles equipped with specialized measuring devices, obtaining Average Daily Traffic (ADT) volumes, the posted speed limit, the students grade level, the length of the hazardous section, frequency of hazards along the walk in route, and community concerns.

Boundaries for each individual school may change yearly due to the addition or reduction of safe walking paths to the school. Please contact the terminal that services your school for information regarding the current eligible addresses for service into that school.

Students with special needs are evaluated through their Individual Education Plan, or IEP. Transportation is determined by the transportation department and Exceptional Student Services , after the completion of the IEP. Requests for transportation, or changes to existing services, are considered only after the terminal has received a T-1066 form from the appropriate SERS Technician. Principals, teachers and/or parents should contact their SERS Technician, not the area terminal, to initiate transportation or request changes to existing transportation.

Each terminal has a lost and found box. Bus drivers collect student belongings that have been left on their bus. The driver usually keeps clothing and small articles on the bus near the driver compartment for several weeks before putting them into the lost and found box. Large and certain other items (band instruments, large back packs with books in them, cell phones, etc.) are brought into the terminal office for safe keeping when they are found.

Have your student ask the driver about items left on the bus.

Alternatively, you may call the terminal that services your school on any school day, during the hours of 5:00 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. The office staff will contact the driver to try to locate the item immediately. If the article is located, you may have it brought into the terminal office for you to pick up.

Students who enroll into a school other than their neighborhood school under "choice enrollment" may board a Jeffco school bus at any regular bus stop, and/or ride to any regular bus stop established for that school if all of the following criteria have been met:

Space is available on the bus as determined by the Transportation Supervisor who is in charge of scheduling for that school. It is best to call the respective bus terminal after the second week of school when space availability is better determined. If the number of assigned students increases anytime during the school year, students who are "open enrolled on the bus" may lose their seat to be able to accommodate eligible riders. No student will be denied a ride to or from school, or left at a stop or school, without previous notice that they have been displaced from a bus .

There are to be no incidents of misconduct (as governed by the student Code of Conduct) by the student who is "open enrolled on the bus". Any occurrence of misbehavior may warrant that an "open enrolled on the bus" student is denied the privilege to ride any Jeffco bus to and from school.

The parent/guardian accepts all responsibility of getting an "open enrolled on the bus" student to and from the established stop in both the a.m. and the p.m. or is accepting and knowledgeable of their student's walk path to and from any bus stop(s). Parents are strongly cautioned that the school district is not responsible for an "open enrolled on the bus" student's walk path, walking distance, and/or the crossing of any street at any intersection. Successful and safe contingency plans should include that the parent of the student arrange with another eligible rider's parent to have their child go to the eligible student's home. The student's parent is responsible for verifying that the eligible student's home and the bus stop their child will be using is within the school's and Transportation's busing boundary.

"Open enrolled on the bus" students may not board at or depart from any special needs stop.

The rules and criteria for open enrollment onto a bus listed in the answer to Question 3 above apply to your student.

Please be advised that it may take up to two weeks for the transportation staff to determine if space is available on any bus or route before your student is granted "open enrollment" onto the bus. Call the terminal which services your school and ask to be put on the "open enrolled" list. The list is a "first come, first serve" basis.

School bus transportation is the safest mode of ground transportation in the United States. It is 172 times safer to be in a school bus than it is in a private vehicle. The issue of seat belts on school buses is an important question for parents and riders. This is a brief summary of Jeffco's guidelines regarding seat belts on its school buses.

The majority of Jeffco school buses do not have seat belts. Providing school buses with seat belts is not federally mandated. Jeffco buses meet or exceed the standards for protecting riders in the event of an accident. School buses use "compartment" structuring in the passenger area, which includes very high seat backs and extra thick padding. This construction results in less injury since the whole body would move forward into the padded seat back.

Neck and head injuries may occur if the students were using a lap belt in a school bus since the seats on a bus are closer than a conventional car and an upper "shoulder" strap anchoring belt system is not practical. Additionally, in the event of another vehicle impacting the side of a school bus, the floor of a bus sits much higher than most vehicles. This reduces the chance of injury to the passengers.

School buses sustain little damage when a collision occurs, due to stringent rack-n-load and body frame strength requirements, statistically making the vehicle very safe. School bus driver's requirements and on-going training contributes to the safe reputation of Jeffco drivers. Drivers are required to be physically fit, maintain special licenses including federally mandated endorsements, and have yearly state requirements to adhere to. For a brief overview of the requirements of Jeffco school bus drivers visit our Become a Member of Transportation and Fleet Services page. For current national statistics, issues, and recall information visit the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration page.

Have your student arrive at the bus stop five (5) minutes before their scheduled pick up time and be waiting, outside, in plain view of the driver. The driver will not leave the stop until the scheduled pick up time, however, the driver cannot wait for late riders. Drivers or bus assistants are not allowed to go up to house or honk the bus horn.

Prepare your student for longer waits In inclement weather. Ensure that they are dressed in suitable clothing to wait additional time at the stop, (usually under 15 minutes) for the bus which will most likely be a few minutes late. All stops will be serviced in stormy weather. Your student returning home after waiting only a few minutes past the pick up time, will usually result in him/her just missing a late running bus.

Have a contingency plan. Jeffco buses and their drivers are quite reliable, however there will always be conditions beyond their control which may cause a late bus. Parents should have a contingency plan in the case that a bus is running extremely late or breaks down before reaching their students' stop. If you have left for work, the student needs to be able to get back into their home and be able to call you and/or the school. Have a neighbor, or reliable student "buddy" at the same stop, for your student to go back home with. Have an alternative safe refuge, or home where they can go in case that you are not home and instruct them to call you or the school in case the bus was extremely late, or broken down.

The student’s privilege to ride a school bus is contingent on their behavior as governed by the Student Contract. The rules and consequences for student behavior on the bus and the Student Contract are located on the Student Conduct on School Buses page.

Additionally, these rules are included in the Code of Conduct issued by each Jeffco public school. Inappropriate behavior, which is described in the contract may result in suspension of bus privileges.

The program includes a progressive series of consequences, depending on the severity of the inappropriate behavior. Usual steps may include:

A verbal reminder is given to the student that he/she will be suspended from the bus if they are to break the agreement again. The action is logged in a discipline behavior log, and the parent may be called to be informed of the misconduct. The student may be assigned a seat.

The student's parent is called and the student may be removed from the bus for up to three (3) days.

The student's parent is called and the student may be removed from the bus for up to two (2) weeks.

The student may lose all bus riding privileges for the remainder of the school year.

The severity of the consequences are determined by the bus driver and the appropriate Transportation Supervisor/Training Department designee. Video cameras are available for monitoring students on any bus in Jefferson County, however, the driver's observance of a student's misbehavior is sufficient evidence in determining corrective action.