MOULTRIE — They’re big and yellow and hard to miss, so it stands to reason that when a school bus is parked at someplace other than school property, that the public would question. But, school officials said, things aren’t always as they appear, and more times than not drivers are not abusing the use of school buses.

The school system’s comments came in response to recent comments in The Observer’s Rant and Rave column about alleged improper use of school buses and safety concerns.

Policies and guidelines are in place to monitor use of buses, Colquitt County Schools Superintendent Leonard McCoy said Friday, but some personal use is permitted. Drivers are allowed to drive the school bus to another job and park the vehicle there during the course of the day if the job site is closer in rather than using more fuel to drive the bus home and back.

“We have no problem with that bus being driven for example to Lowe’s and parked in the parking lot, which might be within two miles of the last stop rather than going four miles to the home and leaving it there,” he said.

Some drivers live 12 miles outside of town but work in town during the day, Assistant Superintendent Mickey Key pointed out.

“I’d rather them go to their jobs right there in town as opposed to a 24-mile round trip and waste all that fuel. ... There are several situations like that,” Key said.

The school system also allows drivers to make stops for personal use if the stop is made after their route is finished and if the stop is at a logical point between that last stop and the driver’s home,

“There’s no problem with that. It’s convenience for the driver,” McCoy said, adding only if the stop is appropriate.

Key can recount only a handful of times a driver had to be disciplined in the last five years, he said. In one isolated instance more than a year ago, McCoy gave as an extreme example, officials discovered a driver stopped at a store to purchase a six-pack of beer on her way home. She promptly was fired when the allegations proved true, both McCoy and Key said.

And that’s the way the district handles problems, they said. Any specific allegations of abuse is investigated, and if validated, the school district reacts immediately, McCoy said.

“Anyone who has specific information that shows that taxpayer money is being wasted and bus drivers aren’t doing what they’re supposed to are encouraged to contact the central office or any one of the building principals,” he said.

“Our bus drivers do a good job,” he said. “They have an extremely safe record. There is no evidence of a pattern of abuse other than what anonymous callers might want to make, but those who have concrete data that will share it and if it’s correct, they will see the school system reacts.”

Any time a bus is fueled, there is a code input so that usage can be monitored by the fleet manager. Any unusual use of diesel would alert the fleet manager immediately, Key said.

“We’re constantly monitoring that stuff,” he said, adding that he follows up complaints.

Many complaints come in about buses parked at Wal-Mart or grocery stores, Key said, but often it turns out that the buses are used to transport special education students to those retail spots for training in life skills. Understanding how to shop and purchase items is part of special education curriculum, and students learn in a real-life setting, he said. In addition, buses are used to transport special education students to part-time jobs around town as part of their curriculum as well.