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North Canton City Schools

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Transportation

TRANSPORTATION
Transporting Our Students Safely

It is the goal of the North Canton Board of Education to provide transportation to and from school in a safe and efficient manner on our school buses. The rules and regulations for pupil transportation that are established by the Ohio Department of Education and the Ohio State Highway Patrol shall be followed consistently.

Any parent with questions or concerns about school bus stop times/locations, please contact the Transportation Office / Bus Garage at 330-497-5615.

*The best time to communicate with the transportation department is between 9:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. During the times before and after this, our primary focus is on our students and the 42 buses on the road. We attempt to keep our lines open for emergency situations. Emails sent to transportation@northcantonschools.org are delivered to the secretaries and administrator at Transportation and is a good way to ensure your question is answered as soon as possible.

If you are moving, but staying within the district, please start the process with your building secretary. They will communicate the change and work with Transportation to issue you a new bus stop location and time.

In addition to the North Canton City Schools' Student Code of Conduct provided in the student handbook, the Transportation Department follows the following rules listed in the Ohio Administrative Code.

Rule 3301-83-08 Pupil transportation management policies: the State of Ohio has developed the following policies and procedures to ensure the safety of all school bus passengers.

Students are assigned to buses by the Transportation Department according to where they live and are expected to ride only on their assigned buses.  For the safety of all concerned, students who ride the bus must adhere to the following rules: 

  1. Arrive at the bus stop before the bus is scheduled to arrive.
  2. Wait in the school bus or motor van driver designated place of safety in a location clear of traffic and away from the bus stops.
  3. Not engage in behavior at the school bus stop that may threaten life, limb or property of any individual.
  4. Go directly to an available or assigned seat so the bus may safely resume motion.
  5. Remain seated behind the barrier, keeping aisles and exits clear.
  6. Observe classroom conduct, or the bus conduct established by administrators and transportation personnel, and obey the driver promptly and respectfully.
  7. Refrain from eating and drinking on the bus.
  8. Not throw or pass objects on, from or into the bus.
  9. Carry on the bus only objects that can be held in their laps. Any objects that cannot be held are to be secured according to paragraph (H) of rule 3301-83-20 of the Administrative Code.
  10. Leave or board the bus at locations to which they have been assigned unless they have parental and administrative authorization to do otherwise.
  11. Not put your head or arms out of the bus windows.

Bus conduct reports will be issued for violations of bus rules. Bus conduct reports may include loss of bus privileges.  
 

Suspension, Expulsion, or Immediate Removal from Bus

  1. The superintendent or superintendent designees, or principals are authorized to suspend or remove pupils from school bus riding privileges in accordance with section 3327.014 of the Revised Code.
  2. Immediate removal of a pupil from transportation is authorized. A pupil immediately removed from transportation will be given notice as soon as practicable of a hearing which will be held within seventy-two hours of the removal. The notice is to also include the reason for removal. Immediate removal is authorized when the pupil's presence poses a danger to persons or property or a threat to the safe operation of the school bus. Length of time removed from ridership will be in accordance with policies of the school bus owner.

NCCS BUS GARAGE

330-497-5615
transportation@northcantonschools.org


ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Section 3327.02 | Resolution declaring impracticality of transportation - offer of payment in lieu of transportation.
“Payment in Lieu” Process

Transportation Frequently Asked Questions

  • Please call 330-497-5615 or email the Dept. of Transportation at least 3 days in advance of any schedule changes. Your change request may have an effect on the transportation times of the other 45 students on the bus and we need time to properly plan and communicate this.

    If you are moving, but staying within the district, please start the process with your building secretary. They will communicate the change and work with Transportation to issue you a new bus stop location and time.

    We ask that parents not request special busing to accommodate overnight visits, after school activities, socializing or other matters of convenience.

  • Busing or family transportation is determined the same way as it has been in years past but with new building locations, it is a good time to review. Distance from the student’s residence to school property determines whether transportation is provided by NCCS or not; distance is determined by the “walk” feature using Google Maps if you aren’t sure. NCCS bus transportation is provided using the following criteria:

    • Grade 5 and under with 1 mile or more from residence to school property
    • Grades 6-12 with 1.5 miles or more from the residence to school property

  • Elementary students inside a school’s “radius” but separated from the Intermediate or Primary by Main Street or Applegrove Street WILL be offered NCCS busing.

  • We do everything we can to never leave a family without the transportation they rely on. At worst, communication will be made through the Stopfinder app of a bus arriving later in the morning or departing school later in the afternoon in the event of a severe staffing shortage.

  • Parents are responsible for the safety of their child(ren) while they are at the bus stop and for meeting the bus on time.

    For the safety of the children, parents of K-2 and special needs students are asked to be at the bus stop or at least visible to the bus driver when the bus arrives or drops off their child. Drivers will keep the child(ren) on the bus with them until they are able to contact a parent/guardian listed as a primary contact in Final Forms. If the driver finishes their route and the parents/guardians have not been reached, the child(ren) will be returned to the school.

  • Parents are asked to have their child(ren) at the bus stop five (5) minutes prior to the scheduled arrival of the bus.

Stopfinder

Download for iOS

From Apple's App Store

Download for Android

From Google's Play Store
A smartphone displays the 'stopfinder' app interface with feature callouts.
Four smartphone screens display the 'StopFinder' app with map interfaces and route information for setting up geo alerts in the app.

Start Using the Stopfinder App

Download the Stopfinder app using the links below and activate your subscription through the invitation email from the North Canton City Schools Transportation Department. 

The graphics shown here give a visual tour of the features within the app including a student’s daily transportation schedule, notifications, bus number and stop location, and where to access messages. There is also a look at how to set up GeoAlerts to be notified when the bus gets to a point of the route of your choosing. 

Stopfinder Frequently Asked Questions

  • In the Stopfinder app, tap the ellipses menu button on the student card for the student whose schedule you want to share. A menu will open at the bottom of the screen – tap Share Schedule. Complete all required fields and tap “Share.” Repeat these steps if you'd like to share another child's bus information.

  • Would you love to have a notification on your phone when your child's school bus is 5 minutes away? Or how about a two-minute alert notification on those cold, Ohio mornings? There is a way to set up one or even both of those alerts on your Stopfinder app quickly and enjoy the peace of mind for the morning and afternoon bus.

    Caregivers are encouraged to set-up Geo Alerts on the app. Here are some quick directions:

    • Open the map for the student you want to create a GeoAlert for
    • Tap the red GeoAlert button at the bottom of the screen
    • Follow the prompts to draw one or more alert zones on the map

    GeoAlerts are alert zones that can be created around a stop, school, or any point along a route. You can create GeoAlert zones for each student, and they will be unique to your login and the student. Other Stopfinder app users will not be able to see the GeoAlert zones you have created. Watch a one-minute tutorial on Geo Alerts.

    Don't forget, turn on your "Notifications" for the Stopfinder app in your phone's settings.

  • Use the Stopfinder app to send and receive messages between you and the Transportation Department. To send a message, first tap the ellipsis menu (3 dots in the upper right hand corner). A screen will open and you can send a message to the Transportation department anytime it is convenient for you, 24 hours a day.

    Incoming messages sent only to you, or messages directed to all parents with a child on a particular bus, will appear at the bottom center of the app and are accessible by clicking on the red "Smiling Stop Sign" button known as "Smiley". When you see a small number on Smiley, that indicates how many unread messages you have. One reason it is important to have parents and caregivers signed up for the app is
    so that important messages about a significantly delayed bus, a back-up bus with no GPS, or an emergency can be communicated quickly to the correct set of families and not be broadcast to an entire school when only 50 families need to know.

    Parents often ask, "When should I communicate with the bus garage that my child will not be riding?"

    • Please let us know on the morning ride to school if your child is the only child at the bus stop. If your child gets on the bus with other children, then the bus is going to stop at that location regardless.
    • There is no need to communicate regarding a return trip home. Our drivers are reliant on the school employees to load the students on the bus. Students that switch back and forth between car riders and a bus are handled through the school's main office and then on to the classroom teacher.

  • When changing a primary contact's email address in Final Forms, parents should be aware that when the change makes its way to the Transportation Software System (usually 2-4 days later), the Stopfinder App will stop working because it is associated with the old
    email address. As soon as parents see that the Stopfinder App is blank, they can email us at transporation@northcantonschools.org and we can enable their account again in a matter of minutes. Unfortunately, we are unable to do this in advance.