With the implementation of the computerized bus routing
system it is critical that schools understand the use
of the AS/400 Student Information System. All
of the data concerning where a student needs to be picked
up or dropped off comes from the AS/400. Basically
this involves the use of a special screen on the AS/400
to supply transportation data.
Important concept – It is not necessary to use
the transportation screen for a comprehensive student
who is being transported to the residential address.
We already have enough information from the regular
Student Information System to correctly identify and
route these students if they have typical transportation
to and from home.
- When a child is in a special program and lives outside
the regular comprehensive attendance area but within
the special attendance area of the special program.
- Whenever the child is not being transported to the
residential address.
- When a child is enrolled who does not need transportation
because they are transported by a parent or drive
themselves to school.
- A child is enrolled in the magnet program and lives
outside the comprehensive attendance area. The
child must be identified as a magnet student otherwise
he will appear as ineligible for transportation in
the computerized routing system. A magnet child
who lives in the comprehensive attendance area does
not need any special action since he will ride the
bus with the other regular children to the neighborhood
school. If you are not sure about the attendance
area you can use the School Finder program on the
PGCPS web site to check a particular address.
- A comprehensive student is transported from his
residence to school in the morning but in the afternoon
he is transported to a day care center within the
regular attendance area. In this case the Transportation
screen must be used to identify the alternative address
to which the child will be delivered. It is
important to realize that transportation will only
be offered within the attendance boundary.
- A high school student has been issued a parking
permit and drives to school. In this case the
school should enter transportation data and use a
special code to signify the student does not need
school bus transportation.
Schools must confirm enrollment and/or address changes
with the Special Education Office before entering or
changing transportation information on the AS/400.
The Transportation Department only accepts information
for Special Ed. students from the Special Ed. office.
Magnet and Science & Technology Students:
During the summer the Transportation Department completes
the Transportation screen for all students who have
been identified by the Magnet Office as being newly
enrolled in the magnet program. Typically the
Sci-Tech coordinator will fax a list of new students
to our office and we will enter them. Schools
will therefore find that many students have already
been entered for them but they need to double-check
the following:
- Transfers
- Pre-K enrollments
- ESOL
- Anyone who entered a special program during the
school year
Schools do not need to enter transportation information
for Head Start students. This is done by the Head
Start Office.
Schools must enter transportation information for all
Pre-K students; however, the Transportation Department
sets up the AM and PM boundaries. Schools may
enter AM or PM session information but this might be
changed by the Transportation Department as we develop
the bus coverage areas.
A transportation entry must be made for ESOL students
who live outside the regular attendance area, otherwise
they will appear to reside out of boundary and would
be denied transportation.
Siblings are eligible for transportation provided there
is room on the bus. A transportation entry must
be made using the same code, etc. as the special program
sibling. Enter the phrase “Tag-along sibling”
in the AM note field.
Start at the Pupil Related Applications menu. It
will be similar to the screen below.
Then select menu option 3 – Transportation
Use menu option 1 – Update special transportation,
to begin updating transportation data.
You are asked for your school number and password.
At this point you must enter the ID number for the student.
This student has no transportation information.
To enter information, type a “1” next to the
Bus Req. field. If you know you will need to enter
alternative address information, type a “1”
next to the AM and/or PM address.
The first item is the Bus Requirement.
If there is no special requirement you may leave this
field blank. However, if the student uses a wheelchair
the code is W. For infant/toddlers who
need a babyseat, the code is B. For students
who never use bus transportation, the code is N.
The next item is the Session. This is
a two-character field which must be filled in The
valid codes are: A=AM, P=PM or B=All Day.
The next item is the Reason. This is
a two-character field that must be filled
in. A list of reason codes is attached. For
Magnet students the code always begins with an “M”
and the second letter represents the type of magnet program.
For example “MH” is Magnet Humanities. Important
concept – this field must be completed
for a comprehensive student who uses an alternative address.
The reason code for comprehensive students is RG
Next is the Comment. You may leave this
blank or type any special information
Next is the Companion School. This field
is not used by schools. It is restricted to the Transportation
Department.
Next is the Emergency Phone Number. This
field may be left blank or used to store a phone contact.
Any information in the AM Note field
is printed on the student list that is given to the bus
driver.
The last three lines are restricted to the Transportation
Department.
This screen is displayed when you enter a “1”
next to the AM or PM address. It gives you the capability
of entering an alternative address. The fields are
generally self-explanatory. Important concept
– You do not need to enter address information if
the student is being transported from/to the residential
address. Under this circumstance there
would be no reason to use this screen.
The alternative address must be within the attendance
area of the program. If the address is outside
the attendance area no transportation will be provided.
You can check address information on the PGCPS web site
using the School Finder program.
A comprehensive student uses day care
in the morning and afternoon. The Transportation
Department needs to know the day care address to route
the bus correctly. You would enter the initial transportation
screen using the reason code RG and the
session code B. You would also
enter both the AM and PM address screens with the address
of the day care provider. Be aware that transportation
will only be provided within the school’s attendance
area.
A student is accepted into the Magnet
program during the school year. They will be transported
from/to the residential address. You would enter
the initial screen for transportation with the bus requirement
and program. You would not need to use the address
data screen(s) because the residential address already
tells Transportation where the student needs to go.
Same as above except the student is transported to a sitter
in the afternoon. You would enter the initial screen
with the bus requirement and program. Then you would
enter the PM address screen. In this case the screen
can be confusing because you might think the student should
have an A session in the morning and a P session in the
afternoon, but this is wrong. Since the student
is enrolled in an all-day program, both the session
code is B.
A child was using a babysitter but stopped and now reverts
to the home address in the afternoon. You would
enter the home address in the PM address information.
A child transfers from one school to another while remaining
in the same Magnet program. The sending school
would complete a Notice of Requested Change in Pick-Up/Drop-Off
Address for a Magnet Program Student, and send it to
the Transportation Department. A note must be
attached indicating the new receiving school.
A student never uses bus transportation because the parent
transports or the student drives to school. You
would enter the initial transportation screen and use
a Bus Requirement code of “N”.
A new web site has been established as a part of the
new routing system. Schools are able to verify
the transportation information for every child, including
the bus stop, pickup/dropoff time, and bus assignment.
In order to protect student privacy, this information
is password protected and will not be available to the
general public. The public and schools will both
have the capability of looking up the assigned bus stop
for a particular address.
The web site gives you a way to scan your students to
be sure there are no data entry problems. The most
common problem is a child who has been wrongly designated
by the routing system as not eligible for transportation
– generally because of a failure to enter transportation
data with the correct reason code. In this case
the child appears to be a regular program student who
resides out of boundary. You can scan for these
students by looking for N in the transportation eligibility
data.
In the screen above, Jennylene Reyes is shown with an
eligibility code of N, which signifies
the student is not eligible for bus transportation.
This is the detail screen.
When we click on the child’s name a new window pops
up with more details. In this case there is no problem
because the Bus Req field is N, meaning that no transportation
is needed.
The Reason Codes used in the Transportation screen:
EE Extended Elementary Ed. (Pre-K)
ES ESOL
HS Head Start
MA Magnet-Academy
MB Magnet-Biotechnology
MC Magnet-Communication
MH Magnet-Humanities
MI Magnet-French Immersion
MM Magnet-Montessori
MP Magnet-Performing Arts
MS Magnet-Science-Math
MT Magnet-TAG
MU Magnet-University
NC No Child Left Behind
RT ROTC Military Program@Forestville
RG Regular Comprehensive
SA Special Education-Autistic
SB Special Education-Parent Infant Program
SC Special Education-Early Childhood
SD Special Education-Diagnostic Wing
SE Special Education-Emotionally Impaired
SH Special Education-Hearing
SL Special Education-Least Restrictive
Environment
SM Special Education-Multi-handicapped
SN Special Education-Self Contained
SO Special Education-Orthopedic
SP Special Education-Pre Vocational
SS Special Education-Severely Handicapped
ST Special Education-Other
SV Special Education-Vocational
TH 504- Temporary Handicap
TR Non-Public & Special Approval
VV Vocational/Science & Technology
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