The School Board entrusts the safety of students being transported to and from school and school activities on school buses to the drivers of those buses. To be worthy of the Board’s continuing trust, each school bus driver must be mentally and physically alert at all times while on duty. The Board therefore establishes this policy and directs the Superintendent to promulgate administrative guidelines as needed to fully implement Department of Transportation requirements for drug and alcohol testing of these employees of the Board.

The Board requires all Commercial Driver’s License ("CDL") holders, including school bus drivers, to comply with Board Policy 4122.01 on Drug Free Workplace which prohibits the possession, use, sale, or distribution of alcohol and any controlled substance on school property at all times. To implement this requirement, it is the policy of the Board that all CDL holders and employees who perform safety-sensitive functions are to be free of any impairment from the use of alcohol or controlled substances while on duty.

The Board directs the Superintendent to establish a drug and alcohol testing program pursuant to Federal regulations and the School Corporation’s administrative guideline that requires each employee who is employed as a regular or substitute bus driver or performs safety sensitive functions on school buses such as bus mechanics, and contractors who drive school buses pursuant to a transportation contract, to be subject to testing for the presence of alcohol in his/her system as well as for the presence of the following:

Tests are to be conducted pursuant to this policy and Federal regulations:

Employees who are subject to this policy shall comply with the testing procedures required by the Federal regulations and the Department of Transportation ("DOT"), especially with regard to adulterated tests, substituted tests, refusals to test, dilute tests, and other procedures as described in AG 4162A.

Any individual who tests positive on a test described above shall be prohibited from driving a school bus or performing a safety sensitive function on a school bus. An employee who tests positive on a test described above also shall be subject to discipline, up to and including discharge. A contract driver shall be prohibited from driving on the same basis as a driver who is an employee of the Corporation.

In addition, the Superintendent shall require that individuals who test positive, but who are not discharged, be evaluated by a substance abuse professional and complete a counseling/educational program before they may return to driving or performing safety-sensitive functions for the School Corporation, consistent with AG 4162A.

Employees who are removed from driving or performing safety-sensitive functions as a result of this policy must take and pass a return-to-duty test before returning to driving or performing safety-sensitive functions. The return-to-duty test will not occur until after a Substance Abuse Professional (SAP) has determined that the employee has successfully complied with prescribed education and/or treatment. The employee must have a negative drug test result and/or an alcohol test with an alcohol concentration of less than 0.02 before resuming driving or performing safety-sensitive duties.

Background checks also are to be conducted on all potential employees who will serve as drivers or perform safety-sensitive functions, or all current employees who desire to transition to serve as drivers or perform safety-sensitive functions, regarding history of drug and alcohol usage and tests during prior employment for DOT-regulated employers consistent with AG 4162A.

The Board directs the Superintendent to comply with DOT/Federal regulations requiring that the Board provide educational materials that explain the requirements of drug and alcohol testing according to Federal regulations and the Board’s policies and procedures for compliance with those regulations to school bus drivers and employees who perform safety-sensitive functions and any organization of these employees. After the initial distribution of materials to each driver and employee who performs safety-sensitive functions employed at the time of the distribution, the Superintendent or a designee shall see that each employee subsequently hired or transferred into one of these positions receives the materials required by this policy.

The materials to be provided to drivers and other employees who perform safety-sensitive pursuant to this policy shall include a detailed discussion of the following: