SCHOOL DISTRICT EMPLOYEE ASSIGNED VEHICLES | Administrative Procedures

8651 - SCHOOL DISTRICT EMPLOYEE ASSIGNED VEHICLES

Vehicle Assignment

Vehicle assignments to individual employees should be held to a minimum and kept functionally cost effective. The demands of the School District's operations will sometimes justify overnight vehicle assignments as an efficient and effective means of enabling School District staff to be at various work sites or on emergency call status. In order to minimize operating costs and the potential for vehicle under-utilization, misuse, and abuse, supervisors shall carefully manage vehicle assignments to assure adherence to the policies stated below.

Vehicle Assignment

Permanent overnight vehicle assignment is the assignment of a vehicle to an employee to be driven to and from the employee's home and work location on a long-term and continuing basis.
Temporary overnight vehicle assignment is the assignment of a vehicle to an employee who on an occasional or infrequent basis to meet a specific official requirement. The vehicle may be driven to and from the employee's home and work location. These assignments should be limited to thirty (30) days or less.
Permanent vehicle assignment is the assuagement of a vehicle to an employee(s) within a specific department to meet an official requirement. Personal vehicle assignment vehicles will be parked at the employee's assigned duty station unless the employee's job duties require them to divert to a different work site each day.
Permanent overnight vehicle assignment or temporary overnight vehicle assignment shall be approved only when it contributes significantly to the efficiency and effectiveness of School District operations.
Approving authorities must give the highest level of scrutiny to the specific merits of each permanent or temporary overnight vehicle assignment request since few, if any, vehicle assignment situations are alike.
Employees assigned either a permanent overnight vehicle or permanent vehicle will not be eligible for reimbursement for personal vehicle use associated with District duties unless the District vehicle is inoperable or unavailable.

Request for Approval

A permanent overnight vehicle assignment must be requested by that employee's department head. Such request shall then be submitted to the Assistant Director of Transportation Services for review, and then forwarded to the Superintendent or his/her designee for approval.
A temporary overnight vehicle assignment and permanent vehicle assignment must be approved in writing by that employee's department head or his/her designee.

Factors to be considered in determining if a basis for approval exists on a permanent overnight vehicle assignment and permanent vehicle assignment request include, but are not limited to:

the employee is on-call and/or has emergency response duties;
the employee is assigned duties at multiple work sites;
the employee must use a vehicle equipped with a two-way radio or other specialized equipment used by the employee in the performance of the duties of his/her position.

Records and Reports

Vehicle utilization/mileage logs will be maintained by all employees assigned District-owned vehicles. Each department head will be responsible for collecting, maintaining, and keeping files for all vehicle utilization/mileage logs. All such records shall be subject to review by the Business and Finance Division and the Transportation Services Division.
The Transportation Services Division shall maintain a master file indicating District-wide vehicle assignments by department.
Department heads will report to the Superintendent annually each employee who has either a permanent overnight vehicle assignment or permanent vehicle assignment. The reason for the vehicle assignment will be indicated on the report.
District employees permanently assigned a District-owned vehicle will complete the District Vehicle Operator Responsibilities Form.

School District Vehicle Operator Responsibilities

Operators of District vehicles shall wear seat belts at all times while the vehicle is in motion. All passengers in District vehicles shall wear the appropriate passenger-restraining device.
District vehicles shall be operated only by authorized District employees.
Non-District employees may be passengers in District-owned vehicles providing prior approval is obtained from the vehicle operator's supervisor.
There will be absolutely no smoking by operators or passengers in District-owned vehicles.
Operators of permanently assigned District vehicles shall make no modifications, permanent or temporary, to the vehicle. This includes, but is not limited to, any adhesive logo or message-type advertisements.
The use of a cell phone device while operating a District vehicle is strongly discouraged.
Operators of District vehicles will immediately report to their supervisor any traffic citation received while operating the District vehicle.
Permanent overnight vehicle assignment operators will ensure all reporting requirements in accordance with Internal Revenue Service laws are completed annually.

District vehicles are to be used for official School District business only. Personal use of District vehicles is not authorized except for non-recurring personal errands on the way to and from work (if within a reasonable distance on a direct route to and from work) and to and from lunch on a work day. District vehicles will not be operated on non-work days.

Preventative maintenance inspection of each vehicle will be made as scheduled by the Transportation Department.

Gasoline required by out-of-county travel will be secured on School District credit cards provided by the Transportation Department. When using a credit card the vehicle number and mileage will be written on the fuel receipt. The credit card and fuel receipt must be returned to transportation immediately upon the completion of the trip.

Gasoline procurement for District-owned vehicles, when possible, will be made at the transportation fueling sites or other District designated refueling sites.

In the event a vehicle owned by the District is involved in a crash, local law enforcement, supervisor, and shop personnel will be called to the crash scene and a complete report shall be provided as soon as possible to the Director of Transportation and to the Director of Risk Management.

Any District employee who knowingly operates a District-owned vehicle with a suspended or revoked license will be subject to disciplinary action up to and including termination.

All employees who operate District-owned vehicles must comply with the provisions of AP 8600 - Safe Driver Plan.

District employees assigned a vehicle will sign a form indicating knowledge of the rules pertaining to District vehicle use and the employee's agreement to abide by these procedures.

Any misuse of District vehicles by an employee that is reported shall be investigated by the employee's supervisor. A report with findings and recommendations shall be submitted by the supervisor to the Deputy Superintendent within five (5) days of the receipt of the misuse complaint.

Violation of the conditions in this policy will result in disciplinary action, up to and including termination from employment.

The rules and procedures as stated above do not necessarily apply in total to the Superintendent's use of his/her vehicle. Separate vehicles use agreement use policy is including in the Superintendent's contract with the School District.