Transportation

Yes, for all families of students in grades K-12. You should log into the IC Campus Parent Portal in late spring to check either yes or no for bus transportation for the upcoming school year. (This is part of the IC Annual Update of household information in our student records system.)

The Transportation Department's deadline is typically in early August, about 10 days before school starts. However, the sooner families act, the better for our staff who must develop the bus routes and pair them with registered student riders. You can also call your school's registrar to add a student. 

No, for families of preschoolers. Those buses are assigned separately.

If an unregistered student turns up at a bus stop in the morning, they are permitted to board the bus and ride to school. However, since bus stops and routes can change, the student should confirm with the driver that the bus is going to the school they need to get to.

Note: Preschoolers cannot ride an FCPS school bus without a teacher-assigned bus vest, including the school location information tag. The new routing system does not impact our preschoolers, whose buses and assigned by the preschool office.

For the occasional afternoon rider, a bus pass from the school office will still authorize a student on a specific bus to go to a specific stop for that specific day or period of time.

Our bus drivers transport thousands of students daily. If they paused at each student’s house instead of an area bus stop, it would take significantly longer for students to get home.

As a safety measure, FCPS staff are required to check IDs against the information on a student’s bus tag. This is to ensure preschool, kindergarten, and Special Ed students are safely transferred from school into the custody of their designated parent/guardian.

In cases of shared custody, you must designate a primary residence for student transportation purposes. If you need a secondary stop, you can work with our routing staff on options and possible solutions. Note: We cannot accommodate secondary stops outside the school's district boundaries. 

Reaching out to the appropriate office will help ensure the fastest action.

Contact your child's school to report student conduct or behavior problems on the bus, such as fighting, arguments, stolen items, etc. You have three options:

• Call the school's main office number during business hours to speak with an administrator.
• Use the STOP Tip Line to report and document the incident, or 
• Message the principal and assistant principal through ParentSquare with complete details of the incident, including the date, time, students involved, and a description of what happened. 

Call FCPS Transportation at (859) 422-2877 if:

• If your student didn't get off the bus after school.
• Your child left a backpack or other belongings on the bus.
• You have vehicle maintenance or bus safety concerns.
• You are concerned about the bus driver's or bus monitor's conduct, behavior, or attention to driving regulations and student safety protocols.