Riding the Bus

Washington State school buses provide over 700,000 student trips per day and travel over 100 million miles per year. Student transportation has the best safety record for any of the ground-based passenger transportation methods. Wenatchee School District takes great pride in providing the safest form of transportation and service to our community’s children.

Arrive at bus stops: Please have students to their bus stop 5 minutes prior to the scheduled pick up time. Routes and times are subject to change as bus loads and service areas may need adjusting once school has started to balance bus loads.

Basic Ed Students: Students do not need to preregister to ride the bus, however students must use the same neighborhood stop each day that is closet to their house. Students may not get on and off the bus at different stops without a bus pass.

Kindergarten Students:  Must be met at the bus stop by a parent or guardian or they will be returned back to their schools.

Sped Students: If your student qualifies for sped transportation, please call the special education department at 509-663-7117.

McKinney Vento Students:  If your student qulaifies for McKinney Vento services, please call our MKV liasons at 509-662-9634.

Bus Passes: Students may only get off the bus at their assigned neighborhood bus stop.  If students are wanting to utilize another bus stop, they must provide their driver with a bus pass.  Bus passes can be obtained from students school office.

Prohibited items: State law prohibits certain items on school buses, including all forms of animal life (except Seeing Eye dogs), firearms, weapons, breakable containers (glass), latex balloons, flammables, perfumes, and aerosol cans. Long boards are NOT permitted on school buses. Skateboards MUST be completely secured to or encased in a backpack. Backpacks and musical instruments should be small enough that they can sit on the student's lap or between their legs on the floor.

Lost items: If items are left on the bus, drivers will keep them on the and try to return the next day.  If items are not claimed within a couple of days, items will be turned into the school lost and found.

Student ID Cards: As a safety enhancement measure the district is continuing to issue student ID cards for bus riders. Each student will use their ID card to scan on and off the school bus. Accurate ridership data will enhance safety and communication when it is needed most. Students should scan on and off the bus each time they embark or disembark from the bus, including on athletic and field trips. If your student was not issued or needs a replacement card, please have them speak with their school office.  There will be a $5.00 charge for replacement cards. 

Food and Drinks on the Bus:  Food, drink, candy, or gum are not allowed to be consumed on the bus at any time. All food and drink items must be kept in a lunch box or backpack while on the bus.

Headphones/Earbuds/AirPods:  For student safety, students should not wear these items while at bus stops, entering, or exiting the bus, as drivers need to communicate with students; especially in emergency situations.

Bus Stop Laws: Stop for flashing RED.  Motorists must stop when a bus displays its flashing red lights and a stop paddle. When the overhead lights on a bus flash amber, it means the bus is preparing to stop. Motorists should use caution, but do not have to stop until they see the red lights and stop paddle. Use extreme caution around school buses. Students are instructed to always look at the bus driver and wait for the signal to cross before they enter the street, but small children have trouble determining the speed or distance of a moving vehicle and may suddenly dart into traffic. Please drive with care around children and expect the unexpected. Student transportation has the best safety record for any of the ground-based passenger transportation methods. Wenatchee School District takes great pride in providing the safest form of transportation and service to our community’s children.

Special Education Routes: Elementary and preschool students will be transported to and from school together in the morning and afternoon. As much as possible, secondary students (middle school & high school students) will ride with their appropriate grade level. 

General Education Routes: In the morning, we will pick up elementary students first, drop them off at school and then buses will begin a separate run to pick up secondary students (middle school & high school students). The same bus may or may not serve the same area for secondary students.  In the afternoon, we will deliver elementary students home first and then return to pick up secondary students at the end of their school day.

Students will have the same driver and the same bus/route number in both the morning and afternoon.
Students should look at the route number on the black placard on the side of the bus near the door to ensure that they are riding the correct route bus. Although the route number and bus number will be the same most of the time, it is important to double-check. It may be necessary for a driver to be on a spare bus from time to time (which would have a different bus number).

Bus Transfer for Secondary Students: For efficiency and community traffic flow middle schools will be used as high school transfer locations, with the exception of Pioneer Middle School. Secondary students will be transported to middle schools at which time high school students will board designated transfer buses to be transported to their appropriate campus. This will alleviate congestion caused by multiple buses in the high school load zone.

Morning: Foothills and Orchard boundary students will be transported to their enrollment boundary middle schools. High School students will then transfer to a designated bus to their appropriate campus (Wenatchee High School, Westside High School, and Wenatchee Valley Technical Skill Center).  
Pioneer boundary students will be transported to Pioneer and then to Wenatchee High School.  Students that are attending another campus (Westside High School or Wenatchee Valley Technical Skill Center) will catch a transfer bus at Wenatchee High School to those campuses.    

• Morning Exceptions: High school students who live within the one-mile walk boundary of Foothills Middle School and Orchard Middle School will walk to their enrollment boundary middle school to board the designated bus to their appropriate campus (Wenatchee High School, Westside High School, Wenatchee Valley Technical Skills Center). Departure time and route from the middle schools will be posted with other route information on the website.

Afternoon: Westside High School and Wenatchee Valley Technical Skills Center students will catch transfer buses to Wenatchee High School where they will ride designated buses to their enrollment boundary middle school bus. At the middle school they will transfer to their neighborhood bus or walk home if they live within the middle school one-mile walk boundary. High school students that are in the Foothills and Orchard enrollment boundary will ride designated buses to their enrollment boundary middle school.  At the middle school they will transfer to their neighborhood bus or walk home if they live within the middle school one-mile walk boundary. 

High school students that are in the Pioneer enrollment boundary will be picked up directly from Wenatchee High School after the buses have been picked up at Pioneer and will be taken directly home.  If students live within the Pioneer one-mile walk boundary they will walk home from the high school.Please note High school students living within the one-mile walk boundary of Wenatchee High School walk to school.  High school students living within the one-mile walk boundary of their enrollment area middle school will walk to that middle school and catch a designated bus to their appropriate high school campus (Wenatchee High School, Westside High School, and Wenatchee Valley Technical Skills Center). Middle school students living within the one-mile walk boundary will continue to walk to school.