Bus Routes and Schedules

The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education established criteria related to bus routing and bus stops for school districts and transportation providers' guidance.  Northwest adheres to the rules unless road conditions or safety concerns justify a variance.  The criteria include the following:

• No stop should be within 500 feet of another stop.
• The school bus must be visible for at least 500 feet in each direction on a highway with no shoulder and a speed limit greater than 60 miles per hour.  The bus must be visible for a least 300 feet in each direction on other roadways.

Northwest School District has established the following additional criteria for student transportation and bus route assignments:

• All regular routes should be established no later than August 1 of the new school year.
• Route assignments for newly registered students after the start of a new school year will go into effect in one day or less.
• Student route changes will normally take no more than three days to implement and go into effect.
• Bus stops will be assigned at street corners where possible.
• Bus stops will be placed to minimize the possibility of a student being exposed to a known sexual predator's (as defined by the state) residence.  Bus stops will be located so students are not required to walk past a predator's home address.
• Kindergarten students are subject to the rules of the elementary route.  It is the parent's responsibility to have a family member or another adult meet their kindergarten student at the bus stop when returning from school.  Drivers are required to take a kindergarten student back to their school if his or her parent or guardian is not visible at the stop and cannot be reached at their home phone by the dispatcher.