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New WS/FCS R.I.D.E.S. program sets behavior expectations for students on the bus

Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools Superintendent Tricia McManus speaks at a press conference about new behavior expectations for students on buses on Jan. 28, 2025, in Winston-Salem, N.C. AMY DIAZ/WFDD

Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools Superintendent Tricia McManus speaks at a press conference about new behavior expectations for students on buses on Jan. 28, 2025, in Winston-Salem, N.C. AMY DIAZ/WFDD

Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools is rolling out new behavior expectations for students who ride the buses.

Bus drivers led a strike a few months ago in part due to misconduct and safety concerns. 

The new program is called R.I.D.E.S., which stands for Responsibility, Integrity, Discipline, Excellence and Safety.

It includes a matrix of inappropriate behaviors on the bus and their associated consequences. Those can include phone calls home, parent conferences and bus suspensions depending on the level of the offense.

At a press conference on Tuesday, Superintendent Tricia McManus said school administrators will be in charge of enforcement, which the district will be monitoring closely.

“Are there still referrals being written? What are they written for?" she said. "Are we being responsive to those referrals? Are we following the behavior matrix?” 

In addition to consequences, she says the program also calls for recognition of students who exhibit positive behavior.

Parents will need to sign a form agreeing to the new expectations in the coming days.

Amy Diaz covers education for WFDD in partnership with Report For America. You can follow her on Twitter at @amydiaze.

Amy Diaz began covering education in North Carolina’s Piedmont region and High Country for WFDD in partnership with Report For America in 2022. Before entering the world of public radio, she worked as a local government reporter in Flint, Mich. where she was named the 2021 Rookie Writer of the Year by the Michigan Press Association. Diaz is originally from Florida, where she interned at the Sarasota Herald-Tribune and freelanced for the Tampa Bay Times. She holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of South Florida, but truly got her start in the field in elementary school writing scripts for the morning news. You can follow her on Twitter at @amydiaze.

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