The field trip bus checklist for teachers, coordinators and PTOs

Six to four weeks out: book the right bus

• Count everyone. Students, teachers, aides, chaperones, the nurse if one rides. Elementary students sit three to a seat; grade six and up sit two to a seat; adults sit two to a seat. A 54-passenger bus is 54 small children or about 36 older students and adults. The sizes and the arithmetic are here.
• Count the gear. Instruments, coolers, sports equipment and wheeled bags take seats. Say so on the request.
• Note accommodations. A rider who uses a wheelchair needs a lift-equipped bus, and an aide rides when the school requires one. These are easy early and impossible on the morning.
• Ask the venue about buses. Is there a bus lot, a drop-off lane, a bus entrance, a fee? Does the venue need a certificate of insurance from the bus company? Most do not; a few do, and it takes a day to produce.
• Send the request with the date, the time you want the bus on the loop, both addresses, the time you want to leave the venue, the head count and the accommodations. The written quote comes back within one business day with every stop and time on it.
• Start the purchase order the day the quote arrives. It is the slowest step in the whole trip.

Two weeks out: paperwork and people

• Permission slips due, with emergency contacts and medical notes.
• Chaperone assignments. One adult is the bus captain for each bus and carries the roster for that bus. If two buses go, each has its own roster; a student is on one list, not both.
• Seating plan. Not a chart for every seat, but who rides which bus, and who sits up front: students prone to motion sickness, students who need an adult nearby, the chaperone with the first-aid kit.
• Confirm the head count with dispatch. A change of a few is nothing; a change that needs a bigger bus is why we ask now.

One week out: the details the driver needs

• The pickup spot. Bus loop, side entrance, a named curb. Dispatch puts it on the driver's trip sheet.
• The teacher's cell number, one that will be on and answered all day, and the venue's phone. The driver has both before the trip.
• The return departure time, set as the time the bus pulls away from the venue, with the travel time back worked out from it. For New York City trips in particular, the departure from Manhattan is what makes or misses dismissal.
• Tell the office and the custodians what time the bus arrives and where, so the loop is clear.

The day before

• Call or email dispatch to confirm the trip: bus, times, stops and the day-of contact on each side.
• Print the rosters. Phones die; paper does not. One copy per bus captain, one in the office.
• Pack the bus captain's bag: first-aid kit, a few plastic bags, wipes, water, the rosters, the venue tickets or confirmation.
• Remind students: school buses have no restroom, so everyone goes before boarding; eat breakfast; dress for the weather at the venue, not the classroom.

Departure

• Be at the loop ten minutes before the bus time. The bus arrives in the window you set; loading goes fastest when the group is already lined up by bus.
• Meet the driver. First names, the plan for the day, the return time, the teacher's number confirmed. Thirty seconds that make everything else easier.
• Load by bus, then by group. Chaperones at the door counting on, one adult already seated at the back.
• Head count before the door closes. Count heads, not the roster; then check the roster. Say the number out loud to the driver.
• Rules, once, from the front: seated and belted while the bus moves, voices down so the driver can hear, nothing out the windows, the aisle clear.

At the venue

• Before anyone gets off: note where the bus will be and the driver's number. If the driver has to park at a layover area, agree the exact pickup spot and time.
• Head count getting off; head count at every regrouping point inside.
• Set a meeting point and a time that leaves a cushion before the bus departure. Fifteen minutes is enough; five is not.
• If the day runs long, call the driver before the pickup time, not after. A later departure can usually be absorbed; a surprise cannot.

The ride home and after

• Head count boarding. Count the chaperones too.
• Call the school with the real arrival time once the bus is on the highway, so parents and the office know.
• Walk the bus before the driver leaves the school: jackets, water bottles, phones. The driver does an empty-bus check too, but two sets of eyes find more.
• Note what you would change next time while it is fresh: a bigger bus, an earlier departure, a different pickup spot. Dispatch keeps those notes on the account for the next trip.