PA and school bus

I live 1 mile from DS's school, and I drive him both ways every day.

There is a lot of eating of food on school busses. Although, it might not be allowed on the school's daily transportation route...the buses will be used for transportation for athletics, field trips etc.
There will be cross contamination issues.
Many buses only have drivers and no aides...that would be another issue.

Ds is in first grade now, at age 7. He has been riding the school bus since basically day one of kindergarten. He sits in one of the front two seats and the bus driver knows him, has been trained to recognize a reaction and give an epi-pen. He is in one of the front two seats so the food is less of an issue since they are not supposed to be eating on the bus. Once they had a sub who didn't get the message about him and the run...he sat about three seats back with one of the other kids from daycare who told someone behind them to NOT EAT ON THE BUS since ds was allergic to foods. Other than that, we've had no problems. (I followed this up with a call to the transportation department to notify them of this glitch in their system.) Ds carries his epi-pen on the bus every day in his backpack. It is in an outside zippered pocket, and he has been trained to not touch it unless he needs it. (The driver knows it's there.) That way if they need to change buses for some reason, the epi-pen is still with him, and we don't have to worry about a hand-off being forgotten. HTH Kristi

Hi- when my dd wanted to ride the bus, I was not happy. But, I spoke with the school principal and she didn't think it would be a problem. I decided to call the transportation dept. myself because I like to be involved in everything. I spoke with the guy in charge and after explaining the allergy etc., he took it upon himself to make sure all bus drivers in the district would be trained (my dd wasn't the only one who required an epi) and that in case of a substitute, he would require one of the off duty firefighters or paramedics that are on staff be assigned to her bus. He was wonderful- I sent over allergy info and a epi trainer so that if the bus driver felt she couldn't administer it, she would say so. The bus driver did not have a problem and came to meet my dd the day before school. My dd sits in the front seat and loves it. Because so many things can happen if the bus driver has the epi pen, it was decided that I get a backpack with an extra pocket where we would keep the epi. I put a Medic Alert card on the zipper to identify the pocket. Oh, and make sure you find out if the bus driver hands out candy for holidays. Mine did- but as the kids were getting off the bus- but even so, I gave her a list of "safe" candy. I also took the "signs and symptoms" of an allergic reaction, laminated it and put magnets on it so that she could always have it on the bus right in her view. She really liked that. Hope this helps. Kelly

Both of my food allergic children ride the schoolbus with epipens in their fanny packs both ways. Our bus has a no food rule - they can survive the 15 minutes without eating and have their snack at home!!
Since they have friends from their classes on the same bus they always sit with someone from their class. I did a presentation/discussion with both classes at the beginning of the year so the children know about my children's allergies and help to keep them safe.
My son is 6 and in grade 1 and my daughter is 8 and in grade 2.
good luck
deb

I think we have a no food rule. My dd is too young, but it stops at our driveway. I overheard my neighbor chase down one of her dd's to get her to take some breakfast on the bus(must have had a difficult morning!). I am sure her dd said she could not eat on the bus, because I heard mom go, "OH." as if she were perplexed, and sort of walked off without giving it to the child.
But, this shows, if the child didn't remember, it would have been on the bus because the parent had no clue! So the rules are not always failproof, obviously. I often find the children are the best ones to teach. They like helping and doing good for their friends most of the time. They remember alot fo little things grown ups forget. becca

skanb's situation is very similar to ours. Ryan always sits in the front seat opposite the driver, however, I drive him if there is a sub driver. He also carries his epi in an epibelt under his shirt. All his shirts are oversize for that purpose.
He sits with his sister also in the front seat.

My daughter had her big sister last year her first year in school, kindergarten on the bus. We first tried the regular bus, didn't like that set up, then tried the special needs bus...that was worse, since they have behavioral issue kids on it. So we went back to the regular bus and they sat in the front seat on the other side of the driver. A few times they tried to move her back, but that was stopped right away. Then this year, big sister is in middle school, so daughter is on bus alone. She sits in the front and has a friend from the neighborhood sit with her who is in 5th grade now. My dd does wear or carry her epi pen in her backpack always and the transportation dept. has trained the drivers and they have a colored sheet of paper with instruction and a picture of my daughter lamenated up front with them. Never had any big problems that didn't get fixed right away. The principal has gotten on the bus when new drivers disagreed on their responsibilities. So far been an okay year.

My daughter wanted to ride the bus to kindergarten with her friends and I certainly didn't want to take this from her. I talked with the school nurse and the principal and they dealt with the bus drivers. Marianna sat in the very front seat. The same 2 kids sat with her each day and their parents were very aware of her allergy. No one was allowed to eat on the bus. I also supplied lysol disenfecting wipes and the bus driver wiped down her seat every morning and afternoon before she got on to make sure it was clean. It worked well and she never had a problem!