Parents’ Perceptions of the Rural School Bus Ride

This article reports findings from a study of the perceptions of parents about the experience of long bus rides on their children. Twenty-six parents, whose homes were located on the longest bus route in a rural Midwestern school district, provided interviews regarding the experiences of a total of 37 students. In the analysis of the interview data, three themes emerged: (1) atmosphere on the bus, (2) length of the bus ride, and (3) safety. Notably parents expressed concerns about the fact that long bus rides exposed their young children to the unsuitable language and behavior of older students


Background
The busing of children to public schools is something we now take for granted, but not too long ago it was introduced as one of several reforms positioned to modernize the schooling that children received.
Along with school consolidation, standardization of requirements for teacher credentialing, and various other efficiency measures, school busing enabled schools to become larger, more uniform, and more easily monitored by state regulatory agencies (Haas & Nachtigal, 1998 interview procedures, therefore, reduced social desirability bias as well as assuring the greatest possible objectivity in collecting information from respondents (Fowler & Mangione, 1989).
The researchers obtained permission to pursue the study at a regular public meeting of the school district's board of education. One of the researchers then met with the school district transportation supervisor to identify the longest bus route and obtain a map of the route, including (1) a list of pick-up and arrival times at homes and at the school and (2) a list of the addresses of students on the bus route.
Interviews were conducted at the parents' homes, usually during the late afternoon on weekdays or on Saturday afternoons.
The researchers used a systematic process of content analysis to examine the data collected from structured interviews (Neuendorf, 2002).
This approach enabled the researchers to identify generalizations, or themes, evident across the data set (Krippendorff, 1980 Each concern (or theme) encompassed a variety of responses.  As these data suggest, themes relating to "atmosphere" and "length of ride" predominated, and the theme relating to "safety" was less evident in the data.
When they mentioned specific "atmosphere" issues, parents focused primarily on the consequences of the fact that students of diverse ages (6" grade through 12" grade) all rode the bus together. One parent commented, "There are many age groups, and [my child] is exposed to fooling around. It's a negative environment." Because younger children were required to ride the bus with older students for relatively long periods of time each day, parents were concerned about the influence the older students would have on the younger ones. As one parent noted, "there are too many other bad kids ...
[and] not many good influences." Parents also reported that they were concerned about their younger children being exposed to the more "adult" topics discussed among the older children. In fact, in the interviews with those parents who commented on ride length, this concern was always the first mentioned. According to one parent, the "roads take too Another said, "They get restless." According to another, children were expected to read during the long bus ride, but her child "hates to read." Safety was another theme, but it was mentioned less frequently.
Parents' concerns focused on rough roads (mountainous and twisting), adverse weather conditions, and the capability of the driver to handle the situation.
According to one parent, "the former bus driver drove too fast on country roads. Safety [was] not a priority [for that driver.]". One parent described the problem caused by other drivers speeding on rural roads. She described a situation in which "cars are rear-ending the bus on hills. People drive too fast on the road." The parent elaborated by explaining that speeding drivers created a dangerous situation for the bus when it stopped to pick up children just over the crest of hills or around tight curves.

Interpretation and Implications
This study's findings correspond with several of the themes reported by Spence (2000aSpence ( , 2000b In addition, the present study detailed parents' concerns about atmosphere on the bus, and these concerns were also similar to those reported by Spence (2000b). The West Virginia parents quoted in Spence's report expressed concern about young children riding buses with older students as well as concern about student conflicts during long bus rides. The problems associated with student safety and student conflicts were made worse when drivers were forced to focus on driving the bus under demanding conditions (Spence, 2000b).
Atmosphere issues including diverse ages, driver supervision, inappropriate language, and student conflicts were, as discussed above, also reported by parents in the present study.
Even though safety issues were reported less frequently than concerns about ride length and atmosphere on the bus, parents in the present study did make points about bus safety that were similar to those recorded by Spence (2000b).
Spence reported that parents worried about mountainous terrain and winding roads, especially in adverse weather. Parents in the present study reported nearly identical concerns about terrain and weather, adding, in one case, concern for motorists who drive too fast on rural roads.
Findings from this small-scale study as well as from related reports and studies suggest that the impact of long bus rides on school children is not a trivial concern and, therefore These personnel could help maintain a better atmosphere on the bus by providing greater supervision than a lone driver is capable of providing. The additional supervision made possible by the use of monitors would allow the bus driver to focus fully on driving the bus on difficult roads under variable, and sometimes hazardous, weather conditions. Another modification the school district might consider would be the addition of bus routes. By dividing up long bus routes into several shorter routes, rides for children could be shortened.
Of course, under-funded rural districts might want to find ways to accomplish these changes without incurring additional expenses. Asking parents or "foster grandparents" to volunteer as bus monitors might be one inexpensive option. Furthermore, where bus drivers are paid for a half day of work, dividing routes might be workable without incurring additional expenses for salaries. Some rural districts have been able to limit school consolidation, and these districts may turn out to be fortunate. An accumulating body of evidence on small schools (e.g., Howley, 1996aHowley, , 1996b shows the academic benefits associated with this policy decision. Findings about bus ride length-including those reported here-suggest that decisions about consolidation may also have an impact on children's physical and emotional well-being.