04/15/20
Notification Letter to Parents
“Application for School Bus Service”
Dear Parent:
RE: Student Transportation Procedures – School Year 2020-2021
School bus service is provided to eligible students enrolled in specified programs and schools that meet the transportation eligibility
standards approved by the Board of Education of the City of Chicago. This letter is provided as a reminder that the Application
for School Bus Service – White Form" must be returned to the school office so the school can enter the request by June 19, 2020
If you complete any of the optional transportation forms below, please return them to the school with the White Form. After review
and approval, the school will forward the forms to Student Transportation Services (STS) for final review and approval in
conjunction with routes that will be developed during the summer for the beginning of the new school year.
Mandated Form:
“Application for School Bus Service – White Form”: Parents of students currently enrolled and receiving bus service as well
as students enrolling for next school year and desiring bus service are required to complete the form annually. The form must be
submitted to the school by June 19, 2020, if bus service is desired for the start of the next school year.
Optional Forms
Parents may also complete and submit the following transportation request forms, if applicable, to the schools along with the
“Application for School Bus Service – White Form”. Any optional transportation forms received by schools after the June 19, 2020
deadline may still be forwarded to our office; however, we do not guarantee the requests will be processed and approved changes
made by the first day of the school year.
• “Sibling Transportation Request – Yellow Form”: Parents/guardians may use this form to request transportation for their
children who are not eligible for bus service but who attend the same school as a sibling who is eligible for bus service.
Siblings must also have the same parents/guardians and live at the same address to qualify.
REMINDER: once siblings have been approved for transportation, this form no longer needs to be submitted each school
year - as long as the eligible student and the approved siblings are still enrolled at the same school, live at the same address,
and have the same guardian. If the students are new to the school, the parent/guardian should complete a new Sibling
Transportation Request form and submit it to the school for processing. The request does not follow the students if they
transfer to a new school.
• “Chicago Park District – Park Kids Program Request – Green Form”: Parents/guardians may request bus service in the
afternoon to an approved Chicago Park District-Park Kids Program. Please be aware that service to a Park Kids Program is
not funded by the Chicago Public Schools, therefore, approval is limited to the policies outlined at the top half of the form.
Parents are responsible to make other arrangements for their children to get to the Park Kids Program until they are notified
their request has been approved.
REMINDER: In order to expedite the review process of Park District requests, we have “Pre-Approved” some parks for
schools that traditionally have students participating in Park Programs. Please ask the school which parks have been pre-
approved for your school. The service to the “Early Start” parks will begin Monday, September 21, 2020. Families may still
opt to apply for bus service to Chicago Park District programs that are not on the Pre-Approved list. Those forms will be
processed after the first day of school and service to those parks will begin on Monday, September 28, 2020.
• “Day/Child Care Bus Stop Change Request – Blue Form”
This form can be completed by parents/guardians of Diverse Learner students eligible for bus service who are
requesting a change from home pickup and drop-off to a day/child care location.
• “School Bus Stop Change Request – Gray Form”: Students are generally assigned to their neighborhood elementary
school as their bus stop. Parents may request a change in the assigned bus stop location to another CPS school site
location. Parents/guardians of regular education students are to use this form to request a stop change to a CPS school site
that is close to a day/child care provider.
Please contact the school or our office to see if the following form is applicable for your child:
• Application for Determination of a Serious Safety Hazard
• Prior-approved Safety Hazards are reviewed yearly and may be reversed if no longer appropriate
Completed forms should be returned to the school office (do not send forms directly to our office). Please contact the school office
for additional information concerning bus service. All student transportation eligibility standards, forms, policies and procedures
are available at the school office or on the CPS web site:
http://www.cps.edu/Programs/Pages/Transportation.aspx
Thank you.