Administrative Letters

Washington County School District Policy Approved and Sanctioned by the Board of Education.

A164 - Activity Trip Transportation and Bus Requests

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  Administrative Letter #A164 Conference Guidelines - Approved 01-20-2023

Activity Trip Transportation and Bus Requests 

An “Activity Trip” is defined as anything other than to-and-from school transportation. 

Minimum Activity Transportation cost is $50

Trip Request Deadlines:

By June 15th each school year the Transportation Department will issue a list of calendar deadlines to request a trip. See link: 

Bid meeting Dates and Deadlines

Trip Request Procedures:

• Follow Administrative Letter A025 - Travel Guidelines
• Each trip must have school level administrative approval. School secretaries shall not enter trips that have not been approved by school administration.
• Complete on-line trip request in Trip Tracker . https://versatrans.washk12.org/Triptracker/Login.aspx
• Ensure trip entry dates are observed according to the Bid Meeting Dates and Deadlines. 
• If overnight, complete Student Overnight Travel-Form 232 AND a detailed itinerary.  You must attach both Form 232 and the Itinerary to the trip request in Trip Tracker.
• If a school district bus is not available and you use a Charter bus, you must comply with District Level Charter/Bus Travel Payment requirements to have the district cover the additional cost for a Charter. This must be approved by the district prior to the use of the Charter. The district will not approve payment requests for charters after the trip has occurred.

Change Requests:

• Major trip changes that alter the date, increase the amount of out of class time for students by more than 1 hour, move the trip outside of the district, or change the mode of transportation must be canceled and reactivated for updated approval.  
• Scheduled trips are trips that have been assigned a driver.  If a scheduled trip is canceled permanently or canceled and reactivated an email must be sent to the Transportation Department at: tripchange@washk12.org indicating the change, trip number, and the assigned driver's name. The driver information can be found under the Scheduling tab of the trip request.
• Approved trips have received District approval but have not been assigned a driver. Approved trips that are canceled should indicate what major change is being made that requires the trip to be canceled, and then reactivate the trip for reapproval.
• Requested trips have not been approved or scheduled. Requested trips may have changes made to them without canceling.
• Minor trip changes are time changes which affect students out of class time less than 1 hour, local destination updates, or needing a bus that can accommodate a wheelchair. 
• It is not necessary to cancel and reactivate the trip request.
• Email transportation department indicating what changes are being requested to: tripchange@washk12.org
• Wait for confirmation from the Transportation Department before making changes.

Driver Assignment Notification:

• Drivers will contact the coach or activity leader a minimum of 24 hours prior to departure time to provide driver contact information and clarify pick-up location. 
• After initial driver contact, coaches and activity leaders are responsible to let the driver know if an activity trip is canceled. 

Cancellation Fee after Trip is Scheduled:

Preference and Exception to Black-out Time Requests:

• Input your travel request with transportation times that do not conflict with black-out times. 
• Annotate in the notes section of the travel request with your preferred travel time.  
• Based on driver availability and bus schedules the transportation department will do their best to meet your needs.  
• The transportation department will notify you if your preferred request can be met.

For example, you would like to leave the school at 9:15, but the blackout times prevent a bus from arriving until 9:30.  You should enter in the request for a departure time of 9:30, and enter in the notes that your preferred departure time is 9:15.  Transportation will do their best to accommodate your needs based on driver availability. 

Black Out Time Availability 

Local school bus driver shortages and increased demand for extracurricular transportation prohibits our ability to transport students to extracurricular activities during school hours.   Except for remote school location trips, (Activities that originate from or the trip destination is to; Hurricane area Schools, Enterprise Schools, Water Canyon Schools, or to any activities located in Iron County) the Transportation Department cannot transport students to activities during blackout (not available) hours as identified in the following chart.  

Extracurricular Bus Transportation Availability

For example, if your activity trip can start with a school pick-up Monday to Thursday at 9:30 AM and return to the school by 1:00 PM or if your activity can start with a school pick-up at 4:30 PM or after then the transportation department will schedule and transport students to extracurricular activities. Otherwise, charter buses may be used. 

High Transportation Utilization Periods, limited availability

The Executive Director of Secondary Education will equalize distribution of buses during high utilization periods where several schools submit multiple trip requests.  Schools requesting transportation for several activity trips on the same day may only receive approval for a limited number of buses based on the priority of their needs. Schools are encouraged to coordinate transportation needs with other programs or schools when feasible.

District Level Charter Bus/Travel Payment 

IF a WCSD activity bus is not available, and all the following conditions are met THEN, the school is eligible to request reimbursement for the cost of the charter services less the cost the school would have paid if a WCSD Bus was available.   

NOTE: The District will not pay for any optional activities that extend the use of a charter bus beyond the minimum transportation requirements of the program. 

Requirements: 

• Trip was approved in the official Fee Schedule Spend Plan; and,
• Trip is a region event, or a playoff activity required as part of the program; and,
• Current blackout times were observed to the extent possible for the program; and,
• Trip request was entered at least 10 days in advance; and,
• Driver bid meetings for the trip date have passed (No availability); and, 
• Trip date and/or time is unable to be altered to accommodate a school bus; and,
• Students cannot reasonably be shuttled using SUV’s or SUV’s were not available, and,
• 2 bids (for travel that will cost $1,000 or more) were requested the same day notice was given. (One bid is acceptable, if the 2nd company is unavailable and documents that in an email.)

A completed and signed Washington County School District charter bus payment checklist and approval form is required prior to the trip.  Requests for charter services reimbursement will not be honored once the trip has occurred.

WCSD Form #707 Charter Bus Payment Checklist