Rhode Island Code of Regulations
Title 280 - Department of Revenue
Chapter 30 - Division of Motor Vehicles
Subchapter 15 - Safety and Emissions
Part 10 - Rules and Regulations Regarding School Bus Transportation
Section 280-RICR-30-15-10.5 - Regulations of the Board of Regents Governing Transportation of Children with Disabilities
Universal Citation: 280 RI Code of Rules 30 15 10.5
Current through March 20, 2024
A. Transportation
1. Responsibility
a. All children with disabilities who need
special transportation as a related service and as determined by the evaluation
process and described in the IEP shall be provided such service. It shall
include free transportation to and from home (door to door, if necessary) to
the educational program in which he/she is enrolled. It shall also include free
transportation to and from clinical, diagnostic and therapeutic facilities when
the clinical, diagnostic and therapeutic services are necessary either to
complete the child's evaluation or to provide the services required by his/her
IEP.
2. Transportation
Needs of Children With Disabilities
a.
Children with Disabilities needing transportation as a related service are
those children who need transportation to assist them to benefit from special
education, that is they need special transportation to get them to the special
education program in order to benefit from it. The determination as to whether
their disability requires this service (special transportation) is made through
the evaluative process, the requirement that the service be provided is
contained in the child's individualized education program. When such
transportation is provided, it must meet the requirements of the Registry of
Motor Vehicles for the transportation of school children and the following
regulations of the Board of Regents for the Transportation of Children With
Disabilities.
(1) Seat belts or harnesses
shall be used to secure the children while the vehicle is in motion.
(2) A minimum of one aide assigned to each
bus. Such aide, in addition to providing general care and supervision of all
children with disabilities on such bus shall also provide assistance (from
street level entrance of dwelling) to such children lacking the mobility to
leave the home and board transportation vehicles, and shall further assist such
children in debarking the vehicle and entering the school. When children are
transported to clinical, diagnostic and therapeutic facilities, determination
of whether a bus aide is necessary shall be based on a judgment of the LEA
Multi disciplinary Team.
(3)
Hydraulic lifts or other appropriate special devices shall be provided on
special buses to accommodate children with unique problems, whose lack of
mobility to enter or exit vehicles would pose potential harm to themselves or
those trying to help them.
(4)
School districts shall provide in-service training for administrative
personnel, drivers and aides affiliated with special transportation services in
order that they may effectively deal with children with disabilities and
understand the problems faced by the parents of such children.
(5) In order to ensure the safety and well
being of all children with disabilities on any given vehicle, the
transportation of children with known disruptive behavior problems shall be
done in a selective manner and with sufficient assistance by aides (more than
one aide, if necessary) who are appropriately trained and physically able to
cope with such behavior.
(6)
Scheduling of transportation vehicles shall be planned whenever possible in
such a manner as to provide the least amount of travel time necessary to
transport children with disabilities from home to school and back home again.
b. There is a second
category of children with disabilities who require transportation to school. It
is not because of their disability that these children must be transported, but
rather, because of the distance between their home and school. For these
children, transportation must meet the requirements of the Registry of Motor
Vehicles for the transportation of school children. The Regulations of the
Board of Regents for Transportation do not apply, because transportation is not
provided as a related service but merely as a service provided to all children
in the district who live a certain distance from the school.
c. The third category of children with
disabilities includes those who do not need transportation, since their
disability does not require it and since the distance from their home to school
is not sufficient to require it.
Disclaimer: These regulations may not be the most recent version. Rhode Island may have more current or accurate information. We make no warranties or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the information contained on this site or the information linked to on the state site. Please check official sources.
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