The Jackson County Board of Education provides school bus transportation for all eligible Jackson County students.

Bus schedules are set based on capacity and distance from the school so that students arrive approximately 25 minutes before classes begin, allowing time for breakfast in the school cafeteria. It is our goal that no child has a morning or afternoon bus ride of more than an hour.

The locations of bus stops are determined by authorized Transportation staff utilizing Board policy and Georgia law. The safety of students is the first consideration when determining bus stop locations. This consideration takes precedence over all other routing criteria. 

There are a number of other considerations, including road conditions, bus capacity, and required traffic maneuvers. Students are not permitted to cross state highways. Students can be required to walk up to 2/10 of a mile to a bus stop. All locations are assigned with the understanding that the student’s parent/guardian or other adult designated by the family provides age-appropriate supervision at the bus stop.

Seat assignments are a positive way for the ride to be consistent and safe. The driver has the right to assign a seat when he/she deems necessary for the safety of all students. This aids the driver with discipline as well as attendance.

School buses come in various sizes, ranging from 25-39 feet long, 20,000-26,000 pounds, 12-13 feet high, and 6-9 feet wide. The length is what limits the school bus to be maneuvered in cul-de-sacs and tight places. Smaller buses can turn in a shorter radius, while longer buses cannot maneuver the same circle without backing the bus.

The growth of the county has many neighborhoods under construction, with vehicles and workers in the streets.  Residents sometimes park trucks, boats, and trailers on the streets. Children leave their bicycles, skateboards, and basketball backboards on the streets. Although our drivers are trained to be able to parallel park their buses, some subdivisions are not designed with school bus transportation in mind.

Please know that we will design school bus routes to be safe and convenient to the majority of students within the limits of time and physics.

Weather, traffic, driver absenteeism, maintenance difficulties, and unforeseen incidents are responsible for delays in the arrival of school buses in the morning and afternoon. Please know that we are doing everything humanly possible to have all buses running on schedule every day. In the event that your bus does not arrive as scheduled, please allow ten minutes before calling the Transportation Department or the school.

It is simply a numbers problem. There are as many as 50-60 students on each bus. That is at least 50-60 phone calls in a short time frame to parents who are quite possibly at the bus stop with their children. It is simply not feasible. Please know that there is a bus on the way and that we do everything possible to transport your child to and from school in a timely manner.

Decisions regarding each bus route are made by careful planning based on information from the school registration, previous similar routes, and Department of Transportation data. Most routes are fixed during the summer months and changes are made after the first two weeks of school, if not sooner. The more current information we are given, the better decisions can be made regarding specific routes, locations (rural areas), as well as neighborhoods. Sometimes, it is just not possible to have the exact number of students on every run.

Behavioral expectations of the school bus are much like those in the classroom. Then, factor in the mobility of that “classroom” and traffic, added noise, and the size of the “classroom,” and you have a potential catastrophe if there are not clear expectations and enforcement. The behavioral expectations on the bus revolve around the individual rights of every person on the bus, including the driver and the collective rights of students and the driver as it pertains to safety. Anything that jeopardizes the safety of individuals on the bus is viewed as serious.

Our Bus Rules and the JCSS Student Code of Conduct are available on the website. If there is an infraction, a referral is turned into the school administrators, who are responsible for contacting the student and parent to resolve the lack of compliance with bus expectations. The school administration is solely responsible for consequences based on the incident as described by the driver and student.

All buses have video cameras, which may be used to verify incidents. Our goal is never to deny any student transportation to and from school, but we must maintain safety for all students.

Please contact the Routing Supervisor for your area.

Due to bus schedule responsibilities, drivers cannot hold lengthy conversations while driving their route. Also, State of Georgia law prohibits interference with school bus safety and/or impeding the school bus assigned schedule.

Please notify your child's school in order to establish service.

IF YOUR CHILD/CHILDREN WOULD BE A SOLO PICKUP — that is, if there are no other children being picked up within about 2/10 of a mile — a new stop will be added to the route and you will be notified about the location of the stop and the pick-up/drop-off times.

IF YOUR CHILD/CHILDREN WOULD BE PART OF A GROUP THAT ALREADY IS BEING PICKED UP — for instance, in a subdivision where another child/children already gather — you should still contact the school to let them know your child will be joining the group so he/she can be added to the group.

Our bus drivers are not required to stop at a location where a child has not ridden the bus for three consecutive days.

You can notify our department in advance if you know you will have a break in service or ask to have transportation started again by calling 706-367-3995.

No. Students are not allowed to ride a bus other than the one to which they are assigned.

Contact the school your child attends to update the information and get a new bus stop assignment; school staff will notify the Transportation Department 

The bus driver is NOT allowed to take a new student without getting this information directly from the school or Transportation. Handwritten notes are not accepted by the school or the driver.