Using Labels and Hangers to Increase School Transportation Safety
by Chelsea Camper | Last Updated March 5, 2024School is starting back up for most children next month. After a nice, long Summer vacation it’s finally time to get back to business! For schools this means, among many other things, making sure children get to and from school safely.
There are two main ways children in Elementary school are 
transported to and from school:
- Via bus
- Via car ride from parent or other responsible adult
It can be hard for some young children to remember their bus number and/or distinguish whether or not they are supposed to ride home with a certain person. Teaching “stranger danger” may not always work for these situations since it could be that their parents are amidst a divorce and the child isn’t supposed to be with one of the parents.
Helping Young Children Remember Their Bus Number
The use of large stickers with the child’s name and bus number can help young children to remember which bus they’re supposed to get on. Children can place the sticker on their jacket or on a sheet of paper in their binder; somewhere that they can easily get to whenever they need to refer to it.
Once they feel confident that they can remember their bus number, the sticker can be removed and recycled.
Helping To Make Sure Children Are Getting In The Right Car
If children are getting picked up by parent/other responsible adult, teachers and staff need to know that those driving the cars are really allowed to pick up the child. Schools can use a rear view mirror hanger to distinguish who is and isn’t allowed to pick up certain children.
The school can print out a hanger for each student with their the student’s name or ID number printed or written on it that gets handed out to the parent or responsible adult of the child. In order to be able to pick up their child, the parent must have the security hanger presented on their dashboard or hanging on their rear view mirror. If there is no hanger or the hanger doesn’t match up with who the driver claims to be picking up, the child is not allowed to get in the car with the driver.
What other school transportation safety ideas do you have?
Image: D Sharon Pruitt
Original Post Date: 11 July 2012
