Transportation for Events

[MechEng83]

For the last several years, my team has used volunteer parents driving the 15 person "mid-busses" to get our students to and from competitions. We were recently informed that the new school district policy is that only district employees may drive any bus, for "insurance reasons." This loss of transportation option has created a problem we're attempting to address in our plans and budget. We have several options, each of which have their own drawbacks:

1. Parents can just drive students to all competitions. We do this for local off-season competitions or outreach events (within 30 miles), but for things where we really need to travel large distances or as a team, like regionals, it becomes a logistical nightmare.

2. Hire out a school driver and pay for the larger school bus. This is probably only practical with a 1-day type of event.

3. Hire a charter bus driver who would stay with the team for the entire competition. This is what we do for out-of-area competitions (like the World Championship), but it is an expensive option and we don't have unlimited funds.


My question to you all is: What is your school district policy on use of school busses, and what do you typically do for transportation to events?
Thanks.

[lohke]

Have you thought of having some of the parents become substitute teachers? I know for my team that is what we did for IRI 2012 & 2013 and they were able to go with us because they were technically teachers. I'm not sure how hard it would be for your school district, but for ours all they had to do was show up get a background check and some other formalities.

[cadandcookies]

Originally Posted by MechEng83

My question to you all is: What is your school district policy on use of school busses, and what do you typically do for transportation to events?
Thanks.

Our school district doesn't actually own any conventional school buses-- as I understand it, they contract it out to a local business partner which takes care of storing all the buses and supplying drivers and all that-- they work very closely for insurance and safety reasons, but ultimately the district doesn't own the buses, and as such we can't use them (even the small ones).

It does, however, own several white runner vans (one of our team members calls them stalker vans, because they're plain white with tinted windows), which district employees are allowed to drive-- thus, for some offseason events, one of our "faculty advisors" will sometimes obtain one of these vehicles (they have some very oddly specific rules, however). Just as often, however, we have our parents/booster club organize carpooling. For local events, such as the North Star Regional, we will often pay for a school bus in the morning, so that we keep everyone together initially, and then have students carpool back with parents and mentors.

For long-distance stuff (Lake Superior or World Championships), we'll often use a charter bus, which is easier for us to do since we often have a bus full of people to split the cost on (literally, we've had trips where there isn't a single empty seat).

Echoing lohke's sentiment, it may be possible for you to register some of your mentors with the district (that's why I said "faculty advisors"-- two of them are just parents, one of which has never had a student in the school district). This lets them check out the runner vans as well as gives them keys to the building. You may want to check with your school/school district's administration to see what you can work out with them, as I'm sure they'd love to make sure their robotics team can be as successful as possible!

[EricH]

Is there anything in school policies that would prevent a booster club or other similar group (or individual parents) from renting a 15-passenger van or three from your local rent-a-car place and using that to transport students? Naturally, the group/individuals would need to deal with their own insurance, but that is likely to be a little less bureaucratic.

[sanddrag]

Have you considered purchasing team vehicles? If you go about it right, a suitable vehicle can be had for relatively little cost. (~$3000). It may not hold all your people, but something like a Chevy Suburban or a van would solve some of your needs. The issue with that is with who owns it, insures it, and pays registration on it. But if you can solve that, then you always have a vehicle dedicated to your team.

It's for purposes like this that it really pays to have a legal entity that is separate from the school, but there's also ways to work with school districts on issues like this. You just have to be nice to the right people.

[protoserge]

[To everyone] If you are operating out of the school system, you have to follow the school system rules. There are very good reasons why the school system has come to require chartered or school bus transportation.

There aren't many workarounds, and any side-skirting of the rules can open the school system up for lawsuits in the event of injury or death (average payout for an accidental death is around $2.4M per person). While the school system has insurance, it is most likely not enough to cover negligence (which is what this would be). If a non-school employee mentor is driving a vehicle on a school-sanctioned trip, the driver and the school system can be held liable.

The options you presented are the only ones that are acceptable for us as well. It may get tricky for us with the off-season competitions, but the transportation of students by parents outside of school events is not limited.

In our case, we have to use a school bus or chartered bus for travel. Call around and get good deals. See if they're willing to negotiate if you're booking far in advance. It may actually be cheaper than you expect, depending on how far you travel.

Honestly, your best course of action is to confer with the school system lawyers for any alternate approach you can think of.

[Jimmy Nichols]

Originally Posted by EricH

Is there anything in school policies that would prevent a booster club or other similar group (or individual parents) from renting a 15-passenger van or three from your local rent-a-car place and using that to transport students? Naturally, the group/individuals would need to deal with their own insurance, but that is likely to be a little less bureaucratic.

Most Car rental companies won't rent you 15 passenger vans if your intended use is to transport students for an event. We have ran into this before when arranging transportation in the summer to IRI.

We typically use charter buses for everything.

For QCR we rent the school buses which runs ~$40 per hour. I know teams who have done this and have the school bus drop them off at the event and go home, then come back and get them. At the event they either stay close by or arrange local transport with other teams competing who have a charter bus or other means.

We also breakdown the cost on a per person basis and each traveler(mentors, students, and parents) pay their share of the travel.

[Billfred]

Originally Posted by Jimmy Nichols

Most Car rental companies won't rent you 15 passenger vans if your intended use is to transport students for an event. We have ran into this before when arranging transportation in the summer to IRI.

More than a car rental company policy, this is actually state law in South Carolina.

There's a company locally that rents built-to-school-bus-spec mini-buses; multiple teams I've been on have used them with teachers driving. It's not a chain like Hertz, but there may be one near you that does the same. Given the who and the what, the pitch might gain a little more traction. Good luck!

[MrJohnston]

We have similar school policies...and a very large team.

For local events, we simply say "show up at the venue at a particular time and check in." In our state, this means that the school day does not start for these kids until they reach the venue and it is up to the families to find transportion. Of course, on their own, parents organize carpools.

For things that require a hotel stay, we have found that a charter bus is the cheapest way to go (much less expensive than a school bus)- plus a parent with a truck to transport the robot and run the many errands that are bound to become important.

However, going to St. Louis required air travel.

[SenorZ]

Our district requires all parents and faculty who will drive students to a school approved event be "cleared" (TB test, background check...).
Anyone driving a vehicle that can hold 15 passengers needs a Commercial Drivers License.
Since the district makes groups pay for bus use we have parents with SUVs get cleared by the school and load the kids in. Not the best policy from an insurance point of view, but most of the parents know all the kids.