Did you know...

Every school day, we transport:

• Approximately 5,100 students to our public schools.

• 90 special needs students on 9 special needs buses.

• 650 non-public school students to 35 schools.

Our Fleet of buses:

• 73 vehicles

• 48 large buses

• 13 vans

• 9 wheelchair station buses

• 3 Suburbans

• Travels an average of 800,000 miles annually

Our Staff:

• 54 full time drivers

• 18 part time drivers, 5 bus aides (for special needs students)

• 8 mechanics (who also maintain and repair Buildings and Grounds vehicles)

Our Office Staff:

• Our office is open Monday-Friday from 6 a.m.-5 p.m.

• Director – John Myers

• Assistant Director – Jim Boudreau

• Dispatcher – Denise Connors

• Secretary – Cheryl Kirkendall

School bus drivers must meet laws and requirements from the:

• Department of Motor Vehicles

• Department of Transportation (State and Federal)

• State Education Department

Requirements to be a school bus driver:

• 21 or older

• Fingerprinted (Clean criminal record)

• Good “moral” character

• Clean driving history

• Class "B" license, with passenger, school bus and air brakes
  endorsement

• Physical (every year)

• Drug/Alcohol testing (random)

• Physical Performance Test (every 2 years)

• Defensive driving review (every year)

• Behind the wheel skills test (every 2 years)

• Written test (every 2 years)

• Two “safety refresher” meetings (every year)

School Bus Maintenance:

• We are required to do preventative maintenance inspections on our buses every 2000 miles or 40 days, whichever comes first.

• Each school bus is inspected every six months by a DOT inspector, in our garage.

• Each inspection lasts about 1.5 hours.

• Inspections occur about every 7 working days.

DOT Requirements:

• Buses that are inspected must pass on the first inspection.

• DOT considers a yearly passing rate of 90% or greater to be “excellent.”

• North Colonie continues to maintain a 94%-97% pass rating annually.

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Weather sites/information

Link to the National Weather Service Eastern Albany Area Page for the latest weather information. Please note that North Colonie Schools is not responsible for its content or upkeep, and only provides this link as a service to our visitors.

Childcare

Parents or Guardians of children that are to be dropped off or picked up at a location other than home must complete and return a “Transportation to Other Than Home Address” form. This form is due every year by April 1 before the start of the next school year. If we do not receive this form, the home address becomes the default pick up and drop-off location.

Transportation to locations other than home address follow the same guidelines as regular school transportation. It is the responsibility of the daycare provider to insure safe travel of the student(s) to and/or from the bus stop. Kindergarten students being transported to locations other than their home address will utilize existing bus stops when transported with other elementary students. Kindergarteners transported at mid-day will be picked-up/dropped-off as close to the childcare location as is practicable. Requests for childcare transportation made after April 1 cannot be guaranteed. Transportation to a location outside of your child's school attendance area will only be filled if it can be accomplished through the existing bus routing structure. Requests for childcare transportation received during the school year may take up to 5 business days to process.

Non-Public School Information

We provide transportation to students in our district who wish to go to private schools, within the guidelines indicated on the second page of our request form. To get a transportation request form, go to the Transportation Forms page.

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