BUS DRIVER REQUIREMENTS, TRAINING AND RESPONSIBILITIES

The school bus driver has the responsibility to safeguard lives of children in performance of duty. The work requires physical strength, mental poise, ability to cope effectively with emergencies and a disposition designed to relate positively with students.

The board, in support of state laws, initiates this policy to establish an annual medical examination for each bus driver operating a vehicle carrying 10 or more passengers. It includes the following physical requirements:

A. Minimum vision, with or without glasses, of 20/40 in one eye and 20/100 in the other eye;

B. Adequate hearing in both ears;

C. Freedom from mental, nervous, organic, or functional disease, such as epilepsy, tuberculosis, paralysis, mental illness, diabetes, abnormal variations in blood pressure and heart ailments;

D. Freedom from communicable diseases;

E. Physical strength to the level that buses may be operated with ease; and

F. Possession of and normal function of hands, arms, feet and legs.

Examinations may be conducted by the school physician and when such is the case, the board authorizes payment of fees for that service according to an annually negotiated schedule. Drivers wishing to obtain the examination from other medical resources, such as their own family physician, shall pay all charges therefore. The board will not be obligated, unless the examination is performed by the school physician.

The examination must be completed each year during the month of August and prior to the beginning of any school year for regular drivers. The examination must also be completed prior to entry into employment.

Legal References: Title 29 MRSA SEC. 2013

Adopted: January 24, 1994