Frequently Asked Questions

The Transportation Department is open from 6:00 am until 5:15 pm on school days. We are closed from 11:30 AM to 1:15 PM for lunch. Any message left during lunch will be returned the following day. You can also find our email link on the Transportation Department page of our website.

According to the Texas Education Agency (TEA), "The only students that your school district is required to provide transportation for are certain students receiving special education who would be unable to attend classes without special transportation services and certain students eligible under Section 504 of the Federal Rehabilitation Act who would be unable to attend classes without special transportation services." It is a privilege and not a requirement for regular education students to ride the school bus.

There are several options to obtain your student(s)’ bus information. If the campus has an open house or meet the teacher night, transportation will have a booth to set up services. You can also look your student(s)’ bus information up online by clicking on the Bus Routes tab located under the Parents selection.

Your child should be at their bus stop ten (10) minutes before the scheduled arrive time, allowing a ten (10) minute window for traffic problems. When contacting our office for bus location, please have your child's bus number as well as the school, child's name and stop location. Route times may fluctuate during the first few weeks of school, so please be patient with us during this time.

If the change in time is less than five minutes, the driver will notify the student of the change. If there is a change in stop location or bus assignment the Transportation Department will send a written notification home with the student.

Only certain students, whose needs are addressed through an IEP plan, are eligible for "curbside service." "Curbside" service is normally restricted to situations where a less restrictive environment is not possible or where medical issues require this type of service. For other students, service is provided in accordance with district guidelines.

The bus stops are located at centralized locations that can be safely accessed by a significant number of students to minimize the time and mileage of a run. If you have a concern about your child's safety, you are encouraged to accompany your child to the bus stop. As a safety consideration it is safer to have several students waiting at a stop versus an individual. Community ISD utilizes group stops where possible to cut down on the amount of ride time students are having to ride the bus. Students may also be required to walk further in newer subdivisions that have multiple houses under construction (active construction), as buses cannot fit down roads where there are vehicles parked on both sides, or if a subdivision is private and/or gated.

School buses range in length from 35-45 feet and nine (9) feet wide. The length is what limits the school bus to be maneuvered in cul-de-sacs and tight places. Long buses cannot maneuver the same circle without backing the bus, which is avoided in routing if possible. Residents sometimes park trucks, boats, and trailers on the streets. Students leave their bicycles, skateboards, and even basketball hoops on the streets. Although our drivers are trained to be able to parallel park their buses, some subdivisions are not designed with school bus transportation in mind. Please know that we will design bus routes to be as safe and convenient as possible for all students!

During transportation office hours (6 am to 5 pm), please call us at 972-843-6340. If it's after 5:15 pm, please alert your local police department and send an email to info@communityisd.org, or reach out to us at www.communityisd.org/tip.

The child will be returned to his/her elementary campus, where it will then be the parent's/guardian's responsibility to come and get them. After your student has been returned to the campus three (3) times, bus riding privileges will be suspended on the take home service. Your student may continue to ride the bus to school only. 

Students are only permitted to ride to and from their registered address on file with the school. For the safety of all students, we do not allow students to ride to other destinations unless an Alternate Address form has been completed, signed by the parent, and approved by the Transportation Department. In the event of an emergency, the campus principal can grant a one-time bus rider pass. No handwritten notes will be accepted. All emergency bus passes are tracked at transportation; if they become frequent the student’s bus pass privileges will be revoked for the remainder of the year. School bus transportation is defined from the state as to and from the student’s house - no other locations qualify unless the location is a daycare, grandparent, or split parental custody household.

The school registrar should be contacted as soon as possible with all address and telephone number information changes. The registrar will put the information into the system allowing visibility to the Transportation Department. Transportation Staff cannot change your address information. It takes 24 hours from when you update your address with the school before transportation can route your student to the new address. We encourage parents to update this info the day before they wish for it to start, or arrange to transport your student the first day. 

A documented Student Seat Assignment is required by Law Enforcement upon a possible traffic violation. Seat Assignments are a positive way for the ride to be consistent and safe. It is also our policy for students to be assigned to a specific seat. This aids the driver with discipline, student management, and learning each student's name at the beginning of the school year.

School bus sizes are stated in terms of passenger capacity. It is assumed that elementary school-aged children will ride three (3) per seat. Every attempt will be made to limit middle and high school students to ride two (2) per seat. The District is also required to fully utilize all of the space on all of our buses in the fleet.

The purpose of spacing school bus seats so close is to contain the child in a cushioned compartment with only a minimum amount of space between energy-absorbing surfaces.

In the 1970's the Department of Transportation and the National Highway Safety Administration determined that the safest and best arrangement for school bus seating would be a "compartmentalization" concept. Under this concept, seat backs are made higher, wider, and thicker than before. All metal surfaces are covered with foam padding. They must also have a steel inner structure that springs and bends forward to help absorb energy if a passenger is thrown against it. The seat is required to be anchored to the floor so strongly that it will not pull loose during this bending action. The floor must be so strong that it will not be bent or torn by the pulling action of the seat anchors.

Finally, if the seats are too far apart, the passenger could move too far before being cushioned, or could be thrown outside of the bus compartment altogether.

Current federal policy states that the seat back cannot be no farther than 24" away from a defined point.

Our drivers do check their bus after each run. Items left on the bus by students will be held by the driver and may be claimed by the child. Fragile, expensive items are taken off the bus in the evening for their protection, but the driver will bring them back on the bus the next morning to be claimed. If an item does not get claimed within 24 hours, the driver will turn it into the school lost and found.

Behavioral expectations on the school bus are equal to those in the classroom. Anything that jeopardizes the safety of individuals on the bus is viewed as a serious violation. 

Drivers have bus rules and/or expectations posted on the bus. You should have received and signed a Community ISD School Bus Rules Contract when you registered your student for school transportation. When there is an infraction, a referral is turned into the campus. Campus administration is responsible for contacting the student and parent/guardian to solve the lack of compliance with bus expectations. The transportation department is solely responsible for consequences based on the incident as described by the driver and student. The buses have video cameras, which are used to verify incidents. Our goal is never to deny any student transportation to and from school, but we must maintain safety and compliance for all students.
 

The District works closely with local emergency response agencies, as well as representatives with the National Weather Service, to monitor conditions when the threat of severe weather is possible. In addition, members of our Transportation Department are on the roadways in the early morning hours, assessing bus routes for any possible dangers.

The superintendent, along with staff representing operations, transportation, safety and security, and communications, assesses information gathered from local agencies, the National Weather Service, and personal observations to determine the best course of action. In many cases, making the call to alter the normal school schedule can be difficult simply because weather is unpredictable, and the weather conditions can differ from one side of the District to another. Ultimately, the decision to cancel school, or have a delayed start, is made in the best interest of student and staff safety. You can read the District's severe weather and winter weather procedures here: www.communityisd.org/severeweather

The parent/guardian must contact the student's assigned campus to set up an appointment to review their student's Individual Education Plan (IEP). After it has been determined that the student would benefit from being transported apart from mainstream students, the teacher will complete and send a special needs transportation request to our office for processing.

Three (3) to five (5) days are needed to obtain all emergency information, process routing information, contact drivers, and communicate with parents/guardians and other professionals involved. However, we strive to complete this process within 24 hours from receiving the IEP .

Safety is our main goal and concern. We can only transport special needs students to the location stated in the student’s IEP. If you need a location updated, please reach out to the campus your child attends.

Special needs transportation is granted in accordance with a student's needs as a related service to the Individualized Education Plan (IEP). Students who receive an education without an IEP are provided transportation through conventional means.