The Chinook's Edge School Board has approved a new administrative procedure for drivers of school-owned division commercial vehicles.
The procedure outlines, among other things, the responsibility of drivers on school-related trips.
The approval came during the board's recent regularly scheduled meeting in Innisfail.
The stated purpose of the new procedure is as follows: “It is recognized that schools sometimes require volunteer staff drivers in order to reduce expenses for transportation of students on field and athletic trips. Safety of students is of utmost importance and as such, (the new procedure applies).
The procedure applies to all staff who drive school-owned division commercial vehicles.
Under the procedure, authorized drivers can include full-time, part-time and occasional certified school bus drivers, school staff, mechanics, managers and supervisors, and “anyone else authorized to operate a Chinook's Edge school bus.”
Commercial vehicles are defined as trucks, tractors, trailers and any combination of them that are registered for a weight of 11,794 kilograms or more.
The procedure has the following conditions:
• Drivers of school-owned division commercial vehicles must be authorized drivers for the division.
• All authorized drivers are required to comply with the division transportation services safety program, policies and procedures.
• In accordance with the Chinook's Edge operating authority as a provincial carrier, all travel is restricted to within the boundaries of the province of Alberta.
• All authorized drivers must complete a bus trip at least once every six months in order to stay on the authorized drivers
list. If a driver is taken off the authorized drivers list due to inactivity, a refresher course from transportation services will need to be completed in order to be reactivated.
• Travel to a destination outside the province of Alberta must be booked with a federal carrier.
• Authorized driver duties include, but are not limited to:
a. Responsibility for overall care and monitoring of the bus.
b. Arranging for appropriate on-site parking of the bus while at the destination.
c. Arranging for service and regular maintenance as required, the costs of which will be covered by the individual school.
d. Ensuring that the required documentation for insurance and operating authority is valid and on board the bus.
e. Completing and submitting to transportation services, a “driver's time record”. This log must be completed and submitted twice a month to the director of transportation regardless of whether or not the authorized driver has transported students.
f. Completing a pre-trip inspection form each day the bus is used.
g. Submitting the written pre- trip inspections twice a month to transportation services.
h. Keeping the bus clean and in a condition ready for the next use before parking the bus at the end of the trip. The fuel tank must be left at least half full.
i. Ensure that the bus is never loaded beyond the manufacturer's rated capacity.
j. Ensure that while transporting students on the school bus the bus never carries cargo that is prohibited by law as outlined in the division transportation services safety program.
k. Notify the bus shop personnel of any concerns with respect to the vehicle.
l. Report any collisions or injuries to the director of transportation or designate immediately.
