My First School Bus

About the Program

Category: Libraries (Best in Category)

Year: 2018

Since summer 2015, Chesterfield County Public Library (CCPL), Chesterfield County Public Schools (CCPS) and the Chesterfield County Police Department (CCPD) have collaborated to provide rising kindergarteners and pre-kindergarteners an opportunity to get comfortable with a school bus and learn bus safety, all before starting their first official day of school. The “My First School Bus” program started as one program at one library in 2015. With increasing popularity, it quickly grew to nine programs across the system in 2017. CCPS elementary schools offer kindergarten orientations, but not all of them included school bus tours, which led to parents’ interest in the library’s program. In January 2017, CCPL programming staff met with representatives from CCPD to develop a schedule of visits and decide on the structure of the program. CCPL coordinated with CCPS to secure school buses and drivers for those dates. CCPS also committed to bringing school buses for special needs students, as their experience would be different from riding a traditional school bus. The local American Automotive Association (AAA) provided Otto the Auto, a remote-controlled talking vehicle that teaches children the importance of buckling up, looking both ways when crossing the street and other automobile safety tips, to many of the programs.