Cecil County Public Schools Transportation  

We were successful in the 2009-2010 school year in being under budget for transportation costs. In the still difficult economic climate we have reduced the transportation budget for the 2010-2011 school year by over $250,000 to make more funds available for the classroom. We continue to focus on increasing efficiency to reduce costs; from reviewing the routes the buses run to the selection of bus stops. We are experimenting with “real time GPS” on some of the buses this year as a method to improve efficiency and to provide improved customer service.

We will be finalizing our “mid block bus stop” project this year to improve student safety while loading and unloading. Students following the bus rules and parent supervision at the bus stop continue to be the most important aspect of helping keep students safe.

We believe our change to a sealed envelope for notification of bus information at the beginning of the last school year was an improvement over the previous post cards and we will continue with the sealed envelope bus stop mailing this year.

We continue to need your help with two critical areas of student safety.

1. Improper student behavior that distracts the driver from watching the road jeopardizes all the students on the bus. Please talk with your students and reinforce your expectation of safe behavior while on the bus. Your help and support will result in a safer, more pleasant ride to and from school for all students and will prevent your child from receiving negative consequences for unsafe behavior. Please understand that when students receive disciplinary consequences, behaviors must be changed so that they become safe bus riders.
2. Motorists who do not stop for the red lights of the bus while it is loading and unloading because they were either inattentive, distracted drivers who fail to recognize the red lights, or who chose to disobey the law continue to be a threat. If you have younger or a less experienced drivers, talk with them about obeying the law and being attentive drivers while behind the wheel. Remind yourself and friends about being careful around the bus when driving.

Please check your Bus Stop Notice carefully for the location of the bus stop. Drivers are authorized to stop only at the bus stop location on your notice. You should receive a Bus Stop Notice for each student enrolled beginning August 13, 2010. If you fail to receive your bus stop information by August 18, please contact your school. Also as a reminder, if you have moved, make sure you notify the school. We only provide bus information for the address shown in the school database record as the student’s bus stop location. If your student’s address is incorrect on the Bus Stop Notice, please contact the school first.

Thank you for helping Cecil County Public Schools support student safety.

Bob Markwardt
Supervisor of Transportation

If you have questions email CCPS Transportation WebMaster at WebMasterTrans@ccps.org