Students should arrive at their designated bus stop at least five minutes before the scheduled departure time. You should be ready to load the bus 2 minutes prior with goodbyes and hugs occurring at this time before the bus begins loading. This ensures that everyone is ready and waiting, which helps the bus stay on schedule and avoids any last-minute rushing that can be dangerous.

• Arrive to your bus stop 5 minutes ahead of the scheduled departure time.
• Be ready to board the bus 2 minutes ahead of the scheduled departure time.
• Scan on and off the bus with the provided bus pass.
• Classroom behavior at all times.
• No eating or drinking on the bus.
• Remain seated and facing forward.
• Sit within your age group (K-4 front of the bus, 5-8, middle of the bus, 9-12 back of the bus).
  • The youngest of each age group sit in the most forward area of each section.
  • Sections will vary on each bus based on the numbers of each age group that route transports.
• Keep objects and bodies to yourself.
• Use appropriate language for a school setting.
• Follow the directions of the driver.
• Be respectful, kind, and polite.
• Store all harmful/large items underneath the bus.
• Pick up after yourself.

Parents or guardians must be at the bus stop to pick up all kindergarten and first-grade students.

If you would like your child to be allowed to get off the bus with an older sibling, another designated person, or alone, you must complete the required forms.

This form needs to be signed by a parent or guardian and the front office staff. The office will keep a copy, and the original will be given to the bus driver. If your child rides multiple buses, a copy of the form must be given to each bus driver, must be signed by the parent, the front office, and then turned into the driver.

This form can be submitted via email to Reghan Mahaffey at rmahaffey@aspenk12.net, Liz White at ewhite@aspenk12.net, or Carrie Milton at cmilton@aspenk12.net

At the beginning of the school year, you can register your child for bus transportation at the same time you complete the annual registration on PowerSchool.

If you are enrolling your child after the school year has started, you can register for bus service by using the Bus Change Request Form, which is available on the transportation homepage.

This same form should also be used to request any changes to your child's bus schedule during the school year, including changes for after-school activities, sleepovers, a change of address, or any other reason.

For the safety of all students, including those in high school or middle school, permission from a parent or guardian is required for all grade levels to ride a bus other than the one they are assigned to. This is a standard safety and liability protocol that ensures all students are accounted for and are only traveling to approved destinations.

To request this change, please use the Bus Change Request Form, which can be found on the transportation homepage of our website.

Student crossings can be the most dangerous situation a child encounters on a bus ride and ensuring your child’s safety is our number one priority. Please follow these procedures: 

• Cross in front of the bus, never to the rear of the bus!
• Make eye contact with the driver and wait for their signal to cross the road.
• Stop by the edge of the bus and wait for the signal from the driver before crossing into the other lane of travel.
• Never cross the road if the bus's overhead red lights are inactive, wait until the reds are active and stop sign is extended and follow the above procedure.

You can request a new bus pass by clicking HERE or by finding the link on the transportation homepage.

A fee of $15 is charged for a replacement pass. However, if we have your old pass on file at the transportation office, we can reactivate it for you free of charge.

Only one bus pass can be active at a time. We recommend turning in any old, inactive passes to the Transportation Department to be kept on file.

One complimentary pass is given out each school year.

Here are instructions for signing up for the parent transportation app:

1. Download My Ride K-12 in your app store
2. Create an account
3. After your account is created, you can link your student to it
4. To do this, you will need your student's 5-digit ID and their last name, spelled exactly as it appears in PowerSchool

The full instructions can be found on the district's website.

Bus routes are linked on the Transportation homepage beneath the block titled Seeking Bus Drivers. The list of bus routes is also linked within the Bus Change Request Form.

For the safety of all passengers, all large or dangerous items, such as scooters, ski poles, skis, ice skates, lacrosse sticks, or large duffel bags, must be stored in the under-storage compartments of the bus.

If an item is too large to fit in the storage compartment, it cannot be transported on the bus and must be brought to school by other means. This policy is in accordance with the Colorado State Regulations (C.S.R.).

If you would like to request a new bus stop or an adjustment to an existing one, please contact the Director of Transportation.

Any adjustments will only be made if they meet all of the following criteria:

• The adjustment complies with state and federal regulations for bus stops.
• It meets the needs of all families using the stop.
• It does not negatively impact the bus schedule or student safety.

For the safety of all students and to comply with state law, bus drivers are not permitted to make stops anywhere not explicitly listed on their approved route. All stop changes must be approved by the Transportation Director.

For the safety and security of all students, only the following individuals are permitted to board a school bus at any time:

• District personnel
• Currently enrolled students
• Law enforcement officers

Unless you have received prior written approval from the transportation department, no one else is authorized to board a district school bus. This policy is in accordance with Colorado State Regulation (C.S.R.) 13.00.

Please contact Liz White, ewhite@aspenk12.net, or Reghan Mahaffey,rmahaffey@aspenk12.net, to confirm the closest bus stop.

Each bus will keep soft objects like hats and jackets on the bus for one week. All other items and items left for over a week get turned into the Lost and Found at Transportation. Before breaks we bring our Lost and Found items up to the buildings.

• Expensive items such as phones, tablets, computers, etc. will always be brought into the Transportation office, and must be picked up there.

For activity trips, the approved pick-up and drop-off locations are:

• School Campus
• Intercept Lot at Brush Creek/CO-82 intersection
• Aspen Village Firehouse RFTA stop
• Basalt Park and Ride RFTA stop
• El Jebel Park and Ride RFTA stop

Please note that these stops are contingent on various factors, and any changes must be approved by the Transportation Department before the scheduled event. Parents or guardians must be present to pick up students from these drop-off locations.

The ticket system is the disciplinary action taken to violations of bus rules and policies and district policies. They can be found in-depth on the transportation page of the school website, JICC, JICC R-1, JICC –R2, and JICC-R3

• 1st ticket: warning with a report to the student’s parents.
• 2nd ticket: The student’s principal shall be notified and a conference with the student and a report sent to parents will occur.
• 3rd ticket: Automatic suspension of riding privileges. The school principal, with information gained from the bus driver, parents, and the student will determine the length of the suspension.

In the event of a snow day, all announcements will be posted on the district's website and sent out via the BrightArrow notification system.

For this reason, we kindly ask that you do not call transportation, as staff may not be in the office to answer your call.

• To join the emergency notification system please contact your building front office.
• Opting out of school district messaging opts you out of all messaging, including snow day notifications.

Reghan Mahaffey, Director of Transportation: (970)925-3760 ext. 5001, rmahaffey@aspenk12.net

Liz White, Administrative Asst. for Transportation: (970)925-3760 ext. 5003, ewhite@aspenk12.net 

Tina Keller, Driver Trainer: (970)925-3760 ext. 5002, tkeller@aspenk12.net 

Kyle Keller, Lead Mechanic: (970)925-3760 ext. 5004, kkeller@aspenk12.net

Lee Azarcon, Parking Enforcement: lazarcon@aspenk12.net

Dan Person, Shipping & Receiving: dperson@aspenk12.net