SAFBG Documentation

Liability for PAUSD student passengers on and off PAUSD busses

Once a student has entered the bus, the District is responsible for the student until the student is discharged from the return bus at the end of the day. The reconfigured J bus does not modify this liability in any way; on the bus, the driver is the responsible adult, and once discharged from the bus, the student must have a different responsible adult, but the District is continually responsible.

An excerpt from the text of an email from David Kopperud of the State Department of Education, November 30, 2005 illustrates this continuing liability. (For the complete text, see "Educational Code requirements for on-campus supervision.")

"However, Education Code section 44808 exempts school personnel from responsibility or liability for the safety or conduct of students off school property unless school personnel are negligent, or the school has sponsored an off-campus activity or provided transportation for student to and from the premises. For example, if the school is negligent in failing to provide a reasonably safe bus transportation system, then liability may result. Once a student is on a school campus at the start of the school day, school officials take the place of the parents and are responsible for actively protecting the children under their charge. (Stuart Board of Education (1911) 161 Cal. 210, 213; People v. Curtiss (1931) 116 Cal.App.Supp. 771, 775.) "

Last Modified: 21Jan2006