121.52 Vehicle, operator and driver requirements.

(1)

(a) Rules governing the design, construction, inspection and operation of school buses adopted by the secretary of transportation under s. 110.06 (2) shall by reference be made part of any contract for the transportation of pupils.

(b) The school board may adopt additional rules, not inconsistent with law or with rules of the secretary of transportation or the state superintendent, for the protection of the pupils or to govern the conduct of the person in charge of the motor vehicle used for transportation of pupils for compensation.

(2)

(a) All drivers of motor vehicles owned by the school district and used for the transportation of pupils shall be under written contract with the school board of the district.

(b) The owner or lessee of all privately owned motor vehicles transporting pupils for compensation shall be under written contract with the school board of the district for which such transportation is provided. The contract shall require the owner or lessee to perform any action necessary for the owner or lessee or the school board to fulfill any obligation specified in sub. (5) or s. 121.555.

(c) The form of contract shall be prescribed by the department and shall provide that all parties to the contract are subject at all times to rules adopted by the secretary of transportation under s. 110.06 (2) and by the department.

(3)

(a) If the contract is made under sub. (2) (b), the contract shall provide that the owner or lessee require his or her bus drivers, as a condition of employment, to take a physical examination, including a chest X-ray or tuberculin test, and to submit the physical examination report to the school board. If the reaction to the tuberculin test is positive, a chest X-ray shall be required. Freedom from tuberculosis in a communicable form is a condition of employment as a bus driver. Additional physical examinations shall be required thereafter at intervals determined by the school board.

(b) The contract shall provide that a physical examination report may be submitted on forms prescribed by the federal authority regulating motor carriers or the department and that a copy of a physical examination report obtained for other purposes within one year of the date of the contract may be substituted for the examination, if the report contains substantially the same information required by the department.

(c) Such physical examinations, chest X-rays or tuberculin tests shall not be required of a bus driver who files with the school board an affidavit setting forth that the bus driver depends exclusively upon prayer or spiritual means for healing in accordance with the teachings of a bona fide religious sect, denomination or organization and that the bus driver is to the best of the bus driver's knowledge and belief in good health and that the bus driver claims exemption from health examination on these grounds. Notwithstanding the filing of such affidavit, if there is reasonable cause to believe that the bus driver is suffering from an illness detrimental to the health of the pupils, the school board may require a health examination of the bus driver sufficient to indicate whether or not the bus driver is suffering from such an illness. No bus driver may be discriminated against by reason of filing such affidavit.

(4) The use of any motor vehicle to transport pupils shall be discontinued upon receipt of an order signed by the state superintendent or the secretary of transportation ordering such discontinuance. Personnel under the state superintendent or the secretary of transportation may ride any school bus at any time for the purpose of inspection.

(5) Upon written request of a parent or guardian of a pupil for whom the school district provides transportation, the school board shall disclose the name of each driver who transports the pupil under sub. (2) (a) or (b).

History: 1977 c. 29 s. 1654 (7) (d); 1985 a. 218; 1993 a. 492; 1995 a. 27 ss. 4079, 9145 (1); 1997 a. 27; 2003 a. 280.

Sub. (1) (b) is permissive. It neither governs driver conduct nor requires school districts to adopt rules to that end. It merely allows districts to do so. Reuter v. Murphy, 2000 WI App 276, 240 Wis. 2d 110, 622 N.W.2d 464, 99-3349.