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If Your Child Rides the Bus . . .

Please read this.

August 29, 2017

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Dear Parent or Caregiver,                                                                                 

We would like to remind you of some helpful information that has been shared in the past.  Many of you have new students to the district and may not be aware of this information.  However, many of you have received this information before.

First, we want every child to have a permanent transportation plan in place with the school.  A permanent transportation plan represents the general everyday location that your child rides the bus to and from school.  It should be a residence.  We do drop students to businesses on an as needed basis, but only with the advanced approval of the transportation director.  We try very hard to avoid letting children off in dangerous high traffic areas.  Individual changes to permanent transportation plans are allowed, but we would prefer that be only if the student’s permanent residence has changed.  However, we realize that there will be special exceptions to that preference.

Second, we no longer will accept short term transportation plans involving multiple days.  This has been the source of the confusion that has led to the hiccups we have had in the past.  From now on, we are asking you to send a note daily if your child has a change to their permanent transportation plan.  WE DO PREFER NOTES.  Written documentation is more effective for many reasons than a phone call.  I realize that this may seem like a burden for some of you who have schedules that frequently change, but we know from experience this will substantially decrease the potential for communication problems which will increase the overall safety in effectively getting your child to and from the right location.

Finally, we are requesting that if you must call, you notify us before 2:00 p.m. if your child has a change to their permanent transportation plan.  Last minute changes are difficult to deal with effectively and are subject to error.  Our overall goal is to keep errors from occurring.  We greatly desire to provide the very best accommodating service to our parents and school children, but within the boundaries of overall safety.  Thank you in advance for your cooperation.

Sincerely,

C. Allen Tipton

Transportation Director

Putnam Co R1 Schools

660-947-2494 (399)