By statute school districts are required to transport students living more than 2 miles from school. In Winona, students living one or more miles from their school are provided bus transportation.

No. A school district may transport children who would encounter an extraordinary traffic, drug, or crime hazard if they walked, but the school district is not required to provide transportation. In Winona, the district provides adult crossing guards at the schools and does bus for a limited amount of hazardous conditions, due to extraordinary traffic hazards, as defined by the school board.

The school district would determine what conditions would be considered hazardous. In Winona, the district consults with the city traffic engineer to get advice on this subject.

The non-busing boundaries are computer generated using a positional accurate map from the Winona County GIS division. The distance is generated from property entrance to property entrance using the shortest path taking into account walk paths etc.

There is nothing in law or rule about the distance between the child’s home and the bus stop. This is true for all grade levels. In Winona, student’s living in cul-de-sac are expected to walk out to the intersection. The only exception would be for a special education student. It is not uncommon for students to have to walk up to 3 blocks to a bus stop. Visibility of a bus stop from the child’s home is not a deciding factor for bus stops. Most bus stops are at intersections.

There is nothing in state law or rule that set a maximum amount of time a child can spend on the school bus. Local school districts may adopt a maximum time in their school board’s transportation policy. In Winona, our goal is to keep rides as close to one hour as possible, but students in outlying areas do have rides longer than one hour.

Yes. In Minnesota, riding a school bus is a privilege and not a right. Each local school district has adopted rules of conduct for waiting at the bus stop and for riding the school bus. If your child does not follow the rules, your child could lose his/her bus riding privileges for the entire school year. Bus drivers identify student misconduct and the bus company submits written discipline reports to the student’s school. It is the responsibility of the administrator of the school, or a designee, to decide the consequence of misbehavior.

Yes. Children in grades K-10 must receive school bus safety training during the first few weeks of school. It is recommended that parents review the school bus safety rules with younger children throughout the school year

Yes. The number of children on the school bus cannot be more than the number of passengers that can be fully seated. The seating capacity must be adjusted according to each passenger’s physical size but cannot be more than the manufacturer’s rated seating capacity for the bus. No child is allowed to stand while the bus is in motion.

The district will provide transportation to and from a daycare as long as the daycare address meets the same requirements as your home address. The daycare must be in the attendance area of the school attending and meet the distance requirements. Additionally, transportation to and from daycare must be consistent meaning that the pick up and drop off point must be the same every day.

Students are to ride their assigned bus only due to space issues and student tracking. If you are called out of town on an emergency, temporary arrangements may be scheduled by calling the district transportation office at (507) 494-0810. Signed notes given to the bus driver from parents are not acceptable.

No. Due to the complex nature of the two-tiered bussing structure, the Winona School District does not have the capability to provide for fee-based bus transportation.