another school transport question

[starfishmummy]

DS(12) attends a special school and is transported by mini bus. He has not been behaving well on the bus and I don't think they are coping very well but the escort reports to the teacher so I don't have the full picture, just odd "snap shots"

I think it is a combination of his general erratic behaviour at the moment (puberty??); another "child" (17 or 18) on the bus - they seem to wind each other up, and the fact that his journey is now over an hour as transport bureau have been cutting down on the number of buses.

Now this may not be true but DS has been burbling on about school asking me to take him in instead. I am against this as it is extra pressure on me, especially on the days I work, financial reasons and the fact that I will not be able to park anywhere(the school carpark is too small and the buses fill up every other available space).

So my question is, can they do this. I have tried to find his up to date statement - at the moment I can only find an old one and although I thought transport was on it it doesn't seem to be.......

Am I stuffed? We are seeing the teacher tomorrow about his behaviour in general so I am getting prepared just in case!

Don't know if they can do this-but RESIST ! -I ended up having to transport ds for ages when he refused the bus (another story)

I wanted help to get him back on;but it went on for months-made it difficult with work etc.

Instead,talk about strategies on how to improve things-can he sit further away from the other person,take an ipod or similar to keep him occupied?

If it all fails and you have to take him,they should pay for petrol/wear and tear at 40p (?) per mile

They have put together a bag for him to "do" on the bus. I haven't seen it yet - they asked me to send toys/books/magazines etc in to go in it & I have suggested that it comes home twice a week so I can rotate stuff round; but they haven't responded.
I'm not keen on him taking toys/his ds/ipod as he isn't good at looking after his things or bringing them home and I know the upset there would be if something "tresured" gets left behind. Also their school bags are just left on a peg in a corridor so I would need to know that someone (teacher) was taking charge of anything valuable and making sure it is returned every day.

I will strongly resist any attempts for me to transport him every day - I collect twice a week for after school club so I hope they don't see this as a precedent. That I would expect reimbursement goes without saying! Although I dont think our transport bureau offer this at the moment.

there are rules about how long a child can be on the bus and i think the limit is an hour - ipsea might have the information.

Around here, if the child cannot manage the bus due to time issues, other children or the escorts not being able to manage the child, then the child gets put into taxi's with either one other child if possible or on their own. I would push for this if you can ?

I know what you mean about the trouble if things are left at school -oh yes !!

could you get a few small things that 'live' in the bag and he has that only on the bus ? (though saying that if he is like my ds,that may not work either...)

Thanks twilight - he is on for about 70 minutes in the mornings as he is first pick up(unless they are late getting to school). After school he is one of the first drop offs so it is about 30 minutes and not such a problem.
He's secondary so it is just within the government guildline of 75 minutes! (Locally they try for an hour maximum but I was told it is a guilde and not set in stone).
However there seems to be some good stuff on IPSEA so I will be spending some time over on their site!
Locally they are cutting down on taxis for children -this is what the problem has been-several children who had taxis have been fitted on to the buses and routes rearranged meaning that ds is on for longer or they are late for school!

Intothewest - I'm thinking magazines/brochres and comics mainly (he can't read so needs to be something pictorial).