An Administrator's Guide to California Private School Law

Chapter 16 – Off Campus Activities

Section 4 F IRST A ID K ITS Private schools must carry a first aid kit when students participate in a field trip under the supervision of school staff or employees. 2197 The first aid kit must be immediately available or in the possession of the school’s teacher, instructor, or agent. 2198 When the field trip is conducted in an area commonly known to be infested by poisonous snakes, the first aid kit should also include a snakebite kit and the students must be accompanied by a teacher, agent, or employee of the school who has completed a course in first aid, certified by the American Red Cross, which emphasizes the treatment of snakebites. 2199

T RANSPORTATION : D RIVING A ND O FF C AMPUS A CTIVITIES

Section 5

The rules and regulations regarding transportation of students and use of school buses are surprisingly complex. The type of vehicle, number of seats, and whether the transportation is being provided by the school or a third party, will all play a role in establishing the school’s obligations. LCW Practice Advisor Whenever students are transported in a vehicle

designed to carry more than 10 people, including the driver, the operator must have a commercial driver’s license. 2200 This requirement applies even if the vehicle has been modified to carry fewer than 11 people and even if there are fewer than 11 people in the vehicle. Additional requirements may also apply as detailed in this chapter.

A. V EHICLES

1. S CHOOL B USES A school bus is a motor vehicle generally designed, used, or maintained for the transportation of any school student at or below the twelfth grade level to or from a public or private school or to or from public or private school activities. Any vehicle used to transport students that is designed to carry 11 or more passengers, including the driver, is a school bus. 2201 School bus drivers must have a valid driver’s license in their immediate possession for the appropriate class of vehicle and endorsements for passenger and school bus transportation. 2202 A school bus driver must have a commercial driver’s license because the vehicle is designed to transport 11 or more passengers. 2203 School buses transporting private school students are subject to the same rules and regulations as school buses that transport public school students. 2204

An Administrator’s Guide to California Private School Law ©2019 Liebert Cassidy Whitmore 538