Bus Operations
Bus Operations Main Office
442 Merrill Road, Pittsfield MA 01201
413-499-9525
Below are the transportation forms and information for your child for the 2010-2011 school year, which were included in the recent parent packet mailing.
Parent Packet – Information and Forms:
- School Committee Student Transportation Service Policy
- Parent Letter
- Ticket Transportation Application (2-sided)—Required if you are interested in having your child take the bus instead of walking
- Consent Form for the Medical Alertness Program—Applies to all bus riders
- Day care Transportation Form
- How Bus Stops Are Decided
- Pittsfield Public Schools Street Directory
- List of Temporary and Permanent Hazardous Streets
TICKET TRANSPORTATION
Students living closer to their respective school than outlined above, may be eligible to purchase a seat on a bus servicing that school on a space available basis.
Contact the Transportation Office for an application and fee information at 448-9639. Or download and view or print the forms above, fill out and submit.
GENERAL RULES FOR AVAILABILITY
Students are eligible for transportation to and from school if they live more than:
- 1/2 mile from their elementary school for kindergarten
- 1.5 miles from their elementary school for grades 1-5
- 1.5 miles from their middle school (grades 6-8)
- 2 miles from their high school (grades 9-12)
When parents/guardians register their child for school, they will be told if their child is eligible for transportation. If the child is eligible, they will receive a notice in the mail with the bus stop location, time of pick-up and drop-off, and bus number.
STUDENT CONDUCT
The Pittsfield Public Schools view conduct on the school bus as an extension of classroom behavior. In order to promote the health and safety of each student, the following are the accepted norms:
- Students should wait in an orderly manner at their designated bus stops.
- Students should board and exit the buses in an orderly manner at the direction of the driver.
- All students must obey the rules of safety. They should remain seated with voices controlled, in order to enable the driver to fulfill his/her responsibilities.
- For the safety of all, windows are to be opened or closed only by the driver except in an emergency.
- Only authorized students will be allowed to ride the bus to and from school.
- In order to promote the safe transportation of students, cameras may be used to monitor students’ behavior on buses.
SUSPENSION OR LOSS OF TRANSPORTATION RIGHTS
The following acts may result in denial of the privilege to ride the bus:
- Profanity on school buses
- Fighting or other aggressive physical behavior
- Smoking on school buses
- Lewd or lascivious conduct
- Unnecessary distraction of the driver
- Destruction of any bus property [restitution will be the parents’ or guardians’ financial responsibility]
- Violation of rules for safety on school buses
- Any act which interferes with the safe and orderly transportation of students
In all cases, the principal or designee must inform the parent before keeping the student off the bus. The student is expected to come to school on the days when he or she is not allowed on the bus unless the student has also been suspended from school.
Specific details can be found in the regulations and policy STU-31.