Parkway Schools

Department Profile

Approximately 11,500 resident students from 3- and 4-year old Early Childhood students through high school are transported to and from school on Parkway buses each day.

The district owns 115 buses and leases an additional 33 buses from Special School District. 101 district-owned and 30 leased buses are used for to-and from-school route service day. One bus is kept at Trout Lodge at Potosi for approximately seven months of the year, to provide transportation for middle school students attending 6th grade camp. The remaining buses are spares, used when regular fleet buses are being held off route for preventive maintenance or repairs, or to cover extra-curricular trips at times when the regular bus fleet is engaged in route service.

Each route bus makes an average of three runs taking students to school in the morning, and three runs taking students home from school each afternoon. Generally, each bus serves a high school run, then a middle school run, then an elementary school run each morning and afternoon. Additional afternoon runs are operated for after school activities and athletics, taking home students who stay for activities, detention, extra tutoring, academic help or sports. In our special transportation section, buses average two runs each.  
 

Twenty buses are used in the middle of each school day by special transportation to take students home from  Early Childhood classes or to take students to Early Childhood classes.

In addition to the to-and from-school service, Parkway buses and drivers transport students on more than 1,000 field trips, athletic trips and other extracurricular activity trips each year.
With the number of boys' and girls' sports programs in existence at four high schools, it is often impossible to transport every team to every away game, meet or match during peak route times. The Transportation Department works closely with private school bus contractors to assist us in meeting the service requirements of the athletic programs.

The Transportation Department staff consists of 142 full- and part-time bus drivers, 4 call-in substitute drivers, 25 special needs attendants, 11 maintenance technicians, and 11 office staff (dispatchers, safety & training specialists, fleet maintenance supervisor, routers and secretarial and clerical personnel) in addition to the Director of Transportation.

To view the Transportation Department organizational chart,
Click here

The current Transportation Department budget, including personnel costs, is in excess of $8.25 million.

In addition to maintaining 148 school buses, the Vehicle Maintenance Technicians maintain more than 100 other Parkway trucks, vans, and trailers that belong to the Facilities, Material Management, Food Service, Recycling and Grounds departments.

The Parkway Transportation Department has been recognized for twenty-one (22) consecutive years by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and fourteen (15) consecutive years (every year since the award was initiated) by the Missouri Highway Patrol for its exemplary vehicle maintenance programs and outstanding performance on the annual Highway Patrol School Bus Inspection. Every school district that achieves this status is awarded decals to be placed on the right front passenger window of every bus in recognition of the achievement. Look for the decals on all Parkway buses!