Alpine School District has introduced an online form to facilitate safe transportation for kindergarten students. The submission process is designed to help designate how students will travel to and from school through various methods.
The district is using the information gathered to generate a kindergarten backpack tag. Once a parent completes the form, the tag is emailed to them immediately. School district personnel may use this tag to identify the correct bus for a student based on their corresponding symbol.
For students returning home via a school bus, the form requires parents to specify their assigned bus symbol and bus stop. Information regarding bus stops and symbols can be found on the district's online maps at bus.alpinedistrict.org.
The form includes options for several transportation methods, including car, carpool, or daycare transport, walking, biking, and school bus. It is noted that backpack tags are only created for the school bus used for the return trip home, not for the morning arrival bus.
District guidelines state that all kindergarten students should be received by a responsible individual at the bus stop during drop-off. If no responsible individual is present, the student may be returned to the school. However, a kindergarten student may walk home alone if they have a signed and dated note from a guardian, or they may go home with an older sibling without a note.
The district provides an instructional video for those needing assistance with the backpack tag creation process at bus.alpinedistrict.org/TagVideo. Users must agree to terms stating they have selected the correct bus symbol and stop for their child's return trip.
The online form was scheduled to become functional during the second week of August.
