Request By:
Mr. Larry W. Williams
Director of Pupil Personnel
Allen County Schools
Scottsville, Kentucky 42164
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Robert L. Chenoweth, Assistant Attorney General
You have requested an advisory opinion from the Office of the Attorney General regarding pupil transportation. You are specifically concerned with supervision and discipline of pupils. The questions you have presented are as follows:
1. Does the school system have the right to suspend a child from the school bus for misconduct?
2. If a child below age 16, compulsory attendance age, privileges to ride the bus and is suspended, does this relieve the parents and child from complying with KRS 159.010?
3. If KRS 159.010 is clearly being violated and there are no exemptions in the case that fall under KRS 159.030, can anyone interfere with the director of pupil personnel enforcing the compulsory attendance law and institute proceedings against violators in the attendance district in which he serves?
We will answer these questions in the order presented.
There is explicit authority for forbidding a pupil to ride a school bus who has persistently created a safety or discipline problem. The regulations adopted by the State Board for Elementary and Secondary Education regarding pupil transportation address supervision and discipline of pupils from several perspectives. Supervision and discipline of pupils is the topic of 702 KAR 5:050, copy attached. Section 3 of this regulation reads as follows:
"Should a pupil create a serious safety or discipline problem on the school bus or persist in creating discipline problems on the school bus after having been reported by the school bus driver to the principal or to the person or persons designated by the board of education and warned or disciplined, the principal or the person or persons designated by the board of education shall forbid the pupil to ride the school bus until written permission for the pupil to again ride the school bus has been given to the school bus driver by the person or persons designated by the board of education to grant such permission."
Also, in 702 KAR 5:080, relating the bus driver's responsibilities, Section 21 states:
"If a pupil's conduct on the bus is such that it endangers the lives and morals of the other people on the bus and makes it unsafe for the bus to continue on its route, and when requested by the driver to desist from such conduct and the pupil does not comply, it shall be the duty of the driver to order the pupil to leave the bus, and if this order is refused to eject the pupil from the bus or send for assistance whichever the circumstances dictate. Ejecting a pupil from the bus shall be done only in the most extreme circumstances. When ejection from the bus is required, the driver shall notify the principal of the school where the pupil attends, the district superintendent or some other school authority of the action taken as soon as it is possible to do so."
Lastly, 702 KAR 5:090, copy attached, spells out the pupils' responsibilities. These regulations have the force of law and courts are to take judicial notice of any regulation which has been duly filed under statutory provisions and become effective. KRS 13.105.
We do not believe, however, that the regulations of the State Board preempts the field of control over conduct of a pupil being transported on a school bus. KRS 160.290 (2) provides that a local board of education is to adopt rules and regulations as pertinent to this opinion, regarding "conduct of pupils. " KRS 160.340 (2) requires each local board of education to have on file in its office policies relating to: "(a) Transportation of pupils; (b) Discipline and conduct of pupils. " Also, we would note for you that KRS 161.180 (1) as amended by the 1978 General Assembly, to be effective June 17, provides that:
"Each teacher and administrator in the public schools shall in accordance with the rules, regulations and bylaws of the board of education made and adopted pursuant to KRS 160.290 for the conduct of pupils, hold pupils to a strict account for their conduct on school premises, on the way to and from school, and on school sponsored trips and activities."
Thus, it should be evident that these several sections of our school laws inter-relate relative to this matter of conduct of pupils. See OAG 76-348, copy attached, at pages 4 and 5.
As concerns your second question, the only exemptions authorized by statute to the compulsory attendance provisions set forth in KRS 159.010 are those spelled out in KRS 159.030. Mode of transportation to school is not included.
An analysis of the various responsibilities entailed by the compulsory attendance statutes was discussed in detail in OAG 77-514, copy attached.