Transportation changes every year and the information is in the Parent/Student Handbook.

Bus transportation is provided to students who reside 1-1/2 miles or more from school and students in designated areas approved by the Illinois Department of Transportation. The Board of Education has approved a pay to ride program for students who live within 1.5 miles of the building they attend. Provisions of this program can be obtained from Positive Connections
(942-2001).

Permanent bus stops will be established by school officials and management of Positive Connections. Notification of each student's assigned stop and pickup time will be mailed to each household during the first two weeks of August. Students enrolled in Special Education programs will be similarly notified of assigned stops and pickup times.

In order to maximize safe transportation to and from school, students are to conduct themselves in a proper manner while riding the bus. Video and audio taping cameras are placed randomly in selected buses to assist with student discipline. Violation of bus riding rules and school policy will result in the suspension of the bus riding privilege according to the rules located on pages 23-24 in the White Oak Handbook and pages 25-26 in the Shabbona Handbook.

District #54 will abide by the procedures and regulations designed by the Emergency Services and Disaster Agency in the event of a nuclear or toxic incident.

Parent(s) or legal guardian(s) who must provide transportation to and from school, because free transportation is not available for their children, may be eligible to receive money from the state to help offset some of the cost.


If you can answer yes to the following questions, you may be eligible to receive reimbursement for providing this transportation.

1. Will the pupil be under the age of 21 at the close of the school year?

2. Is the pupil a full-time student in grades kindergarten through 12?

3. Does the pupil either live 1 1/2 miles or more from school or live less than 1 1/2 miles from school but must be transported due to a serious safety hazard resulting from vehicles? (See following paragraphs.)

4. Does the pupil attend a school within Illinois which meets Illinois compulsory attendance laws?

5. Did the parent/guardian incur transportation expenses resulting from transporting the pupil to and from school?

Parent(s)/guardian(s) who have pupils living less than 1 1/2 miles from the school attended must verify that a safety hazard due to vehicular traffic exists by completing an Application for Determination of Serious Safety Hazard at the Regional Superintendent of Schools office for the county in which they live by February 1, 2008. The Regional Superintendent of Schools is required to send the Application to the Illinois Department of Transportation within 15 days. The Illinois Department of Transportation reviews and approves or denies the Application and returns it to the Regional Superintendent of Schools within 30 days.

Upon receipt of the reviewed Application, the Regional Superintendent of Schools will mail it to the parent/guardian who requested the safety hazard be verified. If the safety hazard is verified, the
parent/guardian must go to the school the pupil attends and complete the claim form. Parents who received verification of a safety hazard during and after the 2007-08 school year, whose children attend the same school and live at the same address, do not have to reapply for safety hazard verification.

Once all claims are completed at the school, the claim forms will be sent to the Illinois State Board of Education. If your claim is approved, you should receive a check directly from the State for the lesser of the cost of transporting your child/children or the average per pupil reimbursement paid to public schools for transporting regular education pupils. If insufficient funds are appropriated by the General Assembly, all claims will be pro-rated.

If you have any questions please call or come to the school as soon as possible.