Scheduling a Vehicle – Deerfield Academy

DA Vehicles & Buses

Please familiarize yourself with all vehicle policies

The Facilities team maintains a fleet of vehicles primarily for approved student transport. The following provides details on how to become an approved driver, the procedure for reserving and receiving a Deerfield Academy fleet vehicle, as well as requirements and notices of use.

Our Fleet

The Academy has 14 fleet vehicles plus three buses. We cannot always match a request for a specific type of vehicle. Our protocol is to assign a smaller vehicle rather than a larger vehicle. Below are the capacities for each vehicle type.

•SUV – seats five, including the driver

•MINIVAN – seats eight including the driver

•PASSENGER VAN – seats 12, including the driver

•BUS – seats 40 or 42 or 50

Approved Drivers

If you wish to drive any of the Academy’s fleet vehicles (including golf carts), you must submit driver-approval paperwork to the Finance Office. Please reach out to Sue Neal to start the process.

The Facilities team employs trained and licensed individuals to drive the three buses. Any trip requiring a bus must be driven by one of these licensed individuals (unless chartered). We expect that all reservation requests for fleet vehicles will include the name of the approved faculty/staff driver(s). The Facilities team does not provide drivers for fleet vehicles.

Reserving a Vehicle
Reserving a vehicle is coordinated by the Facilities team. Please use the Vehicle Request Form on the Bulletin to request a vehicle. If you have further questions, you can email [email protected]

In case of an emergency, call Security.

Overnight Trips

When planning your travel, it is important to know that we do not allow vehicles to be driven and parked at the airport or car rental facilities. Depending on the circumstances and staffing availability, the Facilities team may be able to accommodate student group trips to the airport by providing a driver. See the Gas/Fuel section below on how to fuel during multi-day trips.

AirTags

To assist in the situations of lost, stolen, or missing keys, all vehicle key rings are equipped with an Apple AirTag. By accepting the set of keys for your vehicle reservation, you accept that the keys may be tracked and agree to not purposefully tamper, damage, or remove the AirTag from the keys. Please do not attempt to pair an AirTag with any personal device.

Fueling
Facilities will routinely maintain gas levels in all fleet vehicles; however, we are not always able to keep up with demand, due to tightly scheduled reservations, weekends, and work flow.

Multi-day or long-distance trips; a WEX fuel card will be provided with the vehicle. This is only to be used for fuel purchases for that particular vehicle, as it is linked to fuel efficiency record-keeping. Please be sure to enter accurate mileage when prompted at the pump. If assigned a WEX fuel card, please return the vehicle with a full tank to ensure the next reservation has enough fuel for their trip.

Please make sure to return the WEX fuel card when you return the key for the vehicle.

Keys for Vehicles
Keys for your reserved vehicle can be found in the basement of Chen, on the interior wall just outside of Security’s office. There are instructions on the outside of the key cabinet on how to retrieve and return key/fuel card(s). Inside the Key cabinet on the back side of the door there is a “cheat sheet” of all the department pin numbers for the fuel cards, please only use the pin for your department.

Vehicle Pickup/Return
Our fleet is very busy and often fully booked with tight turn arounds. We are not able to accommodate early pickups. Please return the vehicle to the Chen parking lot at the end of the reservation. Please do not park the vehicles anywhere on campus outside of their designated parking spaces or at residences overnight.

Vehicle Pet Policy
Pets are not allowed to travel in Deerfield Academy fleet vehicles for any distance or length of time. Many people are allergic to dogs and other animals. There are health risks involved for people with allergies. Please help us keep our community safe. Reference- Employee Handbook 5.21 page 36.

Cleaning
Fleet vehicles are a shared resource often used more than once daily. The Facilities team is the caretaker of the vehicles, but it is important that upon return, the driver does a once-over to ensure the vehicle is ready for the next group to enjoy their trip off campus. Please check that all passengers have taken their personal items and you are leaving the vehicle clean and free of debris or spills, including the trunk area. Trash bags are provided in the vehicles for your convenience. If you find a vehicle dirty, please report it immediately to [email protected] so it can be discussed with the previous driver.

Vehicle Repair

If you are aware of damage to the vehicle (body, interior, mechanical systems, safety systems) or if any dashboard warning lights turn on during your reservation, please alert Facilities promptly at the time of return. If you are in an accident with the vehicle, once immediate health and safety arrangements are assured, you should contact the Deerfield Academy Security team for guidance.

Accidents
For your reference there are Procedure packets in the glove box of all fleet vehicles to be used to guide the driver in case of an accident. Always assess the situation and determine if there is a need to call 911 for medical assistance, then call Deerfield Academy Security.