The School District of Reedsburg covers approximately 264 square miles, and we transport about 1,500 students via 22 different bus routes on a daily basis.
Our focus is on providing the safest, most reliable, and efficient transportation to the students we serve. You'll notice that our school district owns the buses, and the drivers are district employees. This means the drivers are also part of your district family, all committed to your child's education.
Transportation Team
The team has a total of 40 employees. The School District of Reedsburg owns its own buses and provides the transportation services for our students.
One-Time Pickup or Drop off change: If your child needs to be temporarily picked up or dropped off at any location other than home, please send a note to school with them. The child should take this note to the office, where they will receive a Red Bus Change Note that they will give to the bus driver.
Long-term changes: If your child needs to be permanently picked up or dropped off at a location other than your home five (5) days before the change needs to take effect, please complete the appropriate form:
This form is a fillable PDF, which means you may save it to your computer, fill it out, and email it back to Briana Zimmerman, transportation@rsd.k12.wi.us, in Transportation Services. You also may pick up a copy of the form from Transportation Services, located at 729 North Webb Avenue, Reedsburg (by Webb Middle School).
Riding the Bus
Children should always be at the stop before the bus arrives. Plan to have your child/children at the bus stop 5 to 10 minutes before pick-up time.
Bus Loading and Unloading Areas at Schools
At the beginning of the school year, students will bring home a school safety packet from the Reedsburg Police Department with instructions about safe pick-up and drop-off processes at your specific school. We encourage you to review the information, including the pick-up or drop-off map.
Please do not pick up or drop off students in the bus loading/unloading areas at any of the schools from 7:30 a.m. to 8:15 a.m. and 2:45 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Bus Safety
Our goal is to make sure all students are safe while waiting for and riding the bus. Please review our safety tips and disciplinary action process below.
Under Section 121.54(2), Wisconsin Statutes, a pupil attending a public elementary or secondary school, including four- and five-year-old kindergarten, is entitled to transportation by the public school district in which the pupil resides if the pupil resides two or more miles from the nearest public school the pupil is entitled to attend.
School districts may also elect to provide transportation for pupils who are not required by law to be transported. If a school district elects to provide such transportation to some, but not to all, such pupils, the law requires reasonable uniformity in the minimum distance that pupils attending public and private schools will be transported.
Certain school districts that contain all or part of a city may elect not to provide transportation services. This exception to the transportation requirement is referred to as the "City Option."
The City Option it references would be things like roads or intersections deemed hazardous.
When to Contact Transportation Services?
It's important to notify us when:
You have a change of name, address, home phone, emergency contact numbers, or any daycare changes.
Your child is not riding the bus, especially in the morning.
Your child normally doesn't ride the bus, and you are requesting permission for him or her to do so.
Your child needs to ride a different bus, depart at a stop other than his or her normal stop, or if he or she is riding home with another student.
For your child's safety, we do not allow any student to deviate from his or her normal bus schedule without a note from a parent or guardian. Students must have a pass from their school, or a parent or guardian must call Transportation Services for changes in pick-up or drop-off destinations.
Contact Information
If you have any questions, please contact Dan Meinhardt, Director of Transportation, Briana Zimmerman, or Shawn Ruddy at (608) 768-8940 or transportation@rsd.k12.wi.us.
What am I supposed to do when I see a school bus?
The Transportation department is dedicated to the safe and timely transportation of our students. Please watch the short video below from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation YouTube channel and help us in educating our community on how to react when you see a school bus on the road.
Red Light Law
Statute - 346.48(2)(a)(3)(b)(2) - Vehicles to stop for school buses displaying flashing lights.
(1) The operator of a vehicle which approaches from the front or rear any school bus which has stopped on a street or highway when the bus is equipped according to s. 347.25 (2) and when it is displaying flashing red warning lights, shall stop the vehicle not less than 20 feet from the bus and shall remain stopped until the bus resumes motion or the operator extinguishes the flashing red warning lights. The operator of any school bus which approaches from the front or rear any school bus which has stopped and is displaying flashing red warning lights shall display its flashing red lights while stopped. This subsection does not apply to operators of vehicles proceeding in the opposite direction on a divided highway.
(2)(a)
Except as provided in par. (b), the operator of a school bus equipped with only flashing red warning lights as specified in s. 347.25 (2) shall actuate the lights at least 100 feet before stopping to load or unload pupils or other authorized passengers, and shall not extinguish the lights until loading or unloading is completed and persons who must cross the highway are safely across.
Except as provided in par. (b), the operator of a school bus equipped with flashing red and amber warning lights as specified in s. 347.25 (2) shall do all of the following when stopping to load or unload pupils or other authorized passengers:
Actuate the flashing amber warning lights at least 300 feet before stopping in a 45 miles per hour or greater speed zone or at least 100 feet before stopping in a less than 45 mile per hour speed zone.
At the point of loading or unloading, bring the bus to a stop, extinguish the flashing amber warning lights, and actuate the flashing red warning lights.
After loading or unloading is completed and persons who must cross the highway are safely across, extinguish the flashing red warning lights.
Where the curb and sidewalk are laid on one side of the road only, the operator shall use the flashing red or flashing red and amber warning lights when loading or unloading passengers from either side.
(b) School bus operators shall not use the flashing red or amber warning lights in:
Special school bus loading areas where the bus is entirely off the traveled portion of the highway.
Residence or business districts when pupils or other authorized passengers are to be loaded or unloaded where a sidewalk and curb are laid on both sides of the road, unless required otherwise by municipal ordinance enacted under s. 349.21 (1).
(bm) Except as provided in par. (b) 2. or unless prohibited by municipal ordinance enacted under s. 349.21 (2), a school bus operator shall use the flashing red or amber warning lights as provided in par. (a) in a zone designated by “school" warning signs as provided in s. 118.08 (1) in which a street or highway borders the grounds of a school when pupils or other authorized passengers are loaded or unloaded directly from or onto the school grounds or that portion of the right-of-way between the roadway and the school grounds.
(c) When a school bus is being used on a highway for purposes other than those specified in s. 340.01 (56) (a) and (am), the flashing red or amber warning lights shall not be used, and all markings on the front and rear of the bus indicating it is a school bus shall be removed or completely concealed; except that any time a motor vehicle is equipped as provided under ss. 347.25 (2) and 347.44 and is transporting children for any purpose, the school bus markings may remain unconcealed and the flashing red or amber warning lights may be used as provided in this section and when so used, sub. (1) applies to operators of other motor vehicles.
(3) If the operator of a motor vehicle overtakes a school bus which is stopped and is loading or unloading pupils or other authorized passengers at an intersection on the right side of a roadway in a business or residence district in which the display of the flashing red or amber warning lights on the school bus is not permitted, the operator shall pass at a safe distance to the left of the school bus and shall not turn to the right in front of the school bus at that intersection.
History: 1973 c. 93; 1975 c. 18, 120, 429; 1985 a. 287, 301; 1987 a. 125; 2013 a. 96. Cross-reference: See s. 349.21, which authorizes towns, cities, villages, and counties to provide for the use of flashing red lights by school buses in certain residential or business districts.
