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A situation has come up today that got me to wondering, "Is a school bus always a school bus?"

I teach at a private school. We were contacted by an old friend of the school concerning renting a bus for a reunion. The school is providing the bus free of charge as a gesture of respect for this gentleman and the driver will receive compenstation from the family.

Is the bus still a "school" bus at this point? There is no formal contract, just verbal agreements. As you might have surmised, I am the driver and cannot decide the legality of carrying.

The law says, "a passenger transportation vehicle of a school or educational institution..."

A strict interpretation of that would be that a school bus is always a school bus.

The real question is whether, if a police officer stopped a school bus for a traffic offense or to see why a bunch of adults were riding in one outside school hours, the officer would consider carrying on that bus an offense.

- Jim

And that is why I chose not to carry...and hated every minute of it...considering some parts of town we were in.