Bus Transportation

Please review the information on this page and then complete a ‘Request Bus Transportation’ form in the PowerSchool parent portal if you are eligible to ride the bus. Instructions on how to submit this form are found below. If you have questions regarding bus fees, or adding your student to a bus route, please call the District Registrar at (515) 457-5011.

Si desea ayuda para inscribir a su estudiante(s) en el transporte escolar, comuníquese con:
- Silvia Amador en amadors@urbandaleschools.com o al 515-559-3962 (Valerius)
- Marisol Adame en adamerodriguezm@urbandaleschools.com o al 515-202-8117 (Karen Acres)
- Mariana Gil Gomez en gilgomezm@urbandaleschools.com o al 515-313-1669 (Urbandale High School)
သင်၏ကျောင်းသား (များ) အားဘတ်စ် Bus ကားသယ်ယူပို့ဆောင်ရေးအတွက်လက်မှတ်ထိုးရန်အကူအညီလိုပါက ကျေးဇူးပြု၍ ဆက်သွယ်ပါ (Dar Lian @ 515-210-9141 , liand@urbandaleschools.com )
ဘတ်စ်ကားသယ်ယူပို့ဆောင်ရေးအတွက် သင့်ကလေး(များ)ကို စာရင်းသွင်းရာတွင် ကူညီလိုပါက ကျွန်မထံ ဆက်သွယ်ပါ- Ngun Vang 515-333-7424 vangn@urbandaleschools.com (Karen Acres, Olmsted, Valerius)
Nafa (fale) sianginn Bus i cit ding in fom phih bawmh na herh sual ahcun, zaangfahnak tein (Dar Lian @ 515-210-9141, liand@urbandleschools.com ah bawmh na hal khawh)

**IMPORTANT DATES**
To be on a route for the first day of school, your request needs to be received no later than July 1st for Karen Acres and August 1st for all other schools. We will be happy to add your student after the due date, but the bus stop locations will be set; thus, students may have to walk farther and possibly wait several days before they can begin riding the bus.

TRANSPORTATION GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS

ALL eligibility is determined by your home address, not where your child will be transported to or from.
It is possible to bus to and from an address other than your home, but the address needs to be within the district, within the area school of attendance, and also within a bus area.
Addresses cannot be in a walk zone (see below) in order for busing to be provided.
The transportation must be the same every day. For example: the bus would go to and from the alternate (e.g. daycare) address every day or to your home address every day, but never changing between the two.
All Kindergarten and 1st grade students will need to have an authorized person to release the student to the bus driver and to receive the student at the bus stop in the afternoon.

Interactive School / Bus Zone Maps

2024 – 2025 School Year

Are you eligible to ride the bus for free?

All students in grades K-8 who live 2 miles or more from their school and all students in grades 9-12 who live 3 miles or more from the high school are eligible.
If you are considering Karen Acres for your student, you may be eligible for free transportation. Please contact the District Registrar to verify your eligibility (contact information below).

ARE YOU ELIGIBLE TO RIDE THE BUS FOR A FEE?

(Note: Payment required prior to being added to a route.)
All students who live outside the walk zone for their school (see Walk Zone links above), but within the 2-mile OR 3-mile limit may be eligible to purchase a bus pass under the following conditions: (1) There is space on an existing route. (2) Students can be picked up at an existing stop within the school district boundaries.

PAYMENT OF TRANSPORTATION FEES

You will be notified via ParentSquare before bus fees are assigned to your account. You can view and pay your fee balance in your PowerSchool parent portal. Instructions on how to pay fees in PowerSchool can be found here.

**Annual and Semester Bus Transportation Fees**
Annual Pass 2-Way $392.00	Semester Pass 2-Way $206.00
Annual Pass 1-Way AM $196.00	Semester Pass 1-Way AM $103.00
Annual Pass 1-Way PM $196.00	Semester Pass 1-Way PM $103.00

**IMPORTANT**
To be on a route for the first day of school, your request needs to be received no later than July 1st for Karen Acres and August 1st for all other schools. We will be happy to add your student after the due date, but the bus stop locations will be set; thus, students may have to walk farther and possibly wait several days before they can begin riding the bus.

Refunds

Requests must be received by October 1 for 1st semester and February 1 for 2nd semester. Requests must be submitted in writing to kochera@urbandaleschools.com

BUSING FOR SPECIAL EDUCATION STUDENTS

Special Education students have the same busing rules as general education students unless their IEP specifies specially designed transportation service.
IEP teams (of which parents are included) determine if the nature and severity of the disability requires specially designed transportation
Open Enrollment (OE) rules apply for Special Education students too, and typically OE students are not eligible for any transportation services between school and home. (See Transportation Options For Open Enrolled Students directly below.)
Students with specially designed transportation may need to have an authorized parent meet them in the afternoon, depending on the nature of the disability and the age of the child

TRANSPORTATION OPTIONS FOR OPEN ENROLLED STUDENTS

Open enrolled students do not qualify for busing. Parents are responsible for student’s transportation to school.
There may be an option for parents to purchase bus services within the Urbandale District. In this case, parents must provide transportation to an existing stop. The stop must be on a route that has space and serves the school the student is attending.
Transportation assistance for those who qualify according to income guidelines is available only between contiguous districts.

HOW TO COMPLETE A BUS TRANSPORTATION REQUEST

Step 1: Login to PowerSchool
Login to your parent portal. If you can’t remember or don’t know your Username / Password, click the “Forgot Username or Password” link at the bottom of the page. If you login and cannot view your student’s information, or you are being prompted to enter your student’s access ID or password, please contact kochera@urbandaleschools.com

Step 2: Select Student
Once logged in, select the name of the student for whom you would like to request transportation. Your student(s) name(s) will show on the tab(s) along the top of the screen.

Step 3: Navigate to Forms
Click the Forms tab on the left panel.

Step 4: Locate the Transportation Request Forms
Transportation forms can be found under the ‘General Forms’ tab. This should be the first tab you arrive at upon clicking on ‘Forms.’ Under the ‘Transportation’ category, you will see transportation request forms.

Step 5: Complete Transportation Request Form
There are separate forms for separate school years. Please be aware of what school year you are submitting the transportation request for. Click on the form with the desired school year in the title. Your student’s information and bus zone will be displayed. You will be prompted to complete information pertaining to your student’s bus route. Once the form is complete, remember to click the blue submit button in the bottom right hand corner of the screen.

Step 6: View Student Bus Route
Durham bus service typically takes 2-3 business days to assign a bus route to your student. You’ll receive notification once a bus route has been assigned to your student. You can also view your student’s bus route in your PowerSchool parent portal. In the left hand navigation menu, click on ‘Bus and School Information.’ Your student’s transportation information will be displayed.