If a parent can drive the child to school, the bus will provide transportation after school, as usual. If the parent cannot drive the child to school, please call the Transportation Department at (847) 888-5095 to see if we can possibly assist you further.

School District U-46 provides transportation to all students who qualify for transportation service based on guidelines and criteria developed by the State of Illinois and endorsed by School District U-46 Board of Education.

The biggest determining factor is distance. Most students who qualify for transportation live more than 1.5 miles from school. Additionally, a child that lives within 1.5 miles of school, may qualify for transportation if certain conditions exist such as walking on a busy roadway, crossing major thoroughfares, unusually high speed limits and traffic volume, that may exist along the route the child must walk to school.

No, at this time, U-46 only offers transportation service to students who qualify.

Can my child ride the bus to and from the babysitter?

No, transportation service is based on the home address.

If you are moving within the district, notify both the current and new schools of your move as soon as possible. The new school will notify the Transportation Department of the change for your child. If you are moving out of the district, please contact the Transportation Department directly.

(Examples: my child is staying at a friend's house or my child's sitter is on a different bus route.)

Students should only take the bus route they are assigned to. If an emergency occurs and the student needs to take an alternate route, the parent should call the Transportation Department to make the arrangements. (Have your student's school information ready.)

If school is in session (and not cancelled due to inclement weather) the bus will arrive to transport your child to school. Please be patient - rain and snow can cause delays. The district homepage will offer up-to-date information if the district has canceled school due to inclement weather.

There is a tiered bell schedule in U-46, which allows one bus and driver to provide transportation service to three or four schools every morning and afternoon. Due to the tiered bell schedule, and to ensure that students do not arrive at school too early, drivers may need to wait a few minutes between dropping one group of students and picking up the next group of students. In most situations, it is more efficient for the bus to remain out in the district for a few minutes, than it is for the driver to return to the transportation facility between routes. The bus driver will usually try to find a parking lot or side street near the starting point of his or her next route to wait. (Drivers refer to this time period as "lay-over" time.)

You can obtain a complete listing of all employment opportunities with School District U-46 by visiting the Human Resources web page.

As required by law, the school district has a driving hotline number. If you would like to make a compliment or complaint, please call the driving hotline and leave a message. The messages are transcribed and presented to the bus driver for review and response. When calling the driving hotline, please include the following information:

  - Bus Number, this is the number that begins with a U-. The number can be found on the back door, the hood and above the windows on both sides
    of the bus.
  - When and where the incident occurred. Please include both a date and time.
  - A description of the event being reported. 
  - The driving hotline number is 847-289-6658.