Heads of the Island's public middle and senior schools do not expect any trouble from their students on buses before or during Hallowe'en.

But they stressed that they were taking preventative measures to ensure this.

In addition to bringing in Police and officials from the Public Transportation Department to speak with students, some schools have urged parents to ride the buses with their children.

And Police are expected to beef up patrols, particularly in the so-called trouble spots.

The measures -- similar to those taken last year -- have come about due to recent incidents of rock and egg throwing between students travelling to and from school on the bus.

Bus drivers, who are worried that the situation will become worse during the days leading up to Hallowe'en, have threatened to abandon services to schools and on the fright night unless action is taken.

But PTB director Herman Basden does not believe the situation will come to that.

And principals who spoke with The Royal Gazette agreed.

"I'm sure every principal has been doing what we've been doing -- speaking to students about their behaviour on the buses and at all times,'' Berkeley Institute principal Michelle Gabisi said.

"We're encouraging positive peer pressure. The majority of our young people are responsible and value the bus service.

"There are some who choose to play around. We are talking about a handful of young people. But if caught, they will face the consequences.'' Students have been addressed in assemblies and through advisory groups about the expected standard of behaviour, she noted.

And Ms Gabisi said some parents have offered to ride the buses with students.

Clearwater Middle School principal Charlotte Ming said: "We've had bus drivers and Police in to address the assembly. We're also meeting with parents on Tuesday to address the problem.

"For the most part our students know that they will face the consequences if they misbehave on the buses. We even have anonymous student monitors on the buses. I'm confident that it (Hallowe'en) will be quiet. My students know what to expect.'' Whitney Middle School, since the beginning of the school year, has had staff escorting students to the bus stop and ensuring that they get on the buses.

Principal Gail Graham explained that this was because of the location of the school and the heavy passing traffic.

"That will continue all year because we were concerned about traffic and safety,'' she said.

"As far as Hallowe'en we're having Police REACH (Resistance Education and Community Help Scheme) officers and others come in and talk to the children about their legal and civil responsibilities.'' Staff have also spoken with parents about the issue and encouraged parents to visit the school during the lunch periods and to ride the buses with their children afterschool, Mrs. Graham said.

Safety issues were also discussed during advisory group meetings.

"We're talking to children about safety issues and reminding them that people's private property is their private property,'' she added.

"I must commend my staff. Numbers of them are coming out to volunteer for bus duty. It's working so well that we would certainly want to continue it.'' Head of the Middle School at Sandys, Melvyn Bassett, said his students had received friendly warnings about their behaviour.

"We have addressed the students,'' he said. "Although we didn't see any behaviour of this nature at all. We thought it would be best to alert them before. We will not tolerate any bad behaviour whatsoever.'' Police have been invited to assemblies at the school to reinforce the seriousness of the matter, he added.

"We have invited Ch. Insp. Sinclair White from Somerset to come and address the students in assembly just to reinforce that this is serious and dangerous and that school and Police will take action,'' Mr. Bassett said.

"We are commending our students on their conduct so far. Hopefully, the presence of Ch. Insp. White will send the message that this is serious. "Ch.

Insp. White along with Sgt. Paul Singh, who is our REACH liaison officer, will be seen as friends of the school, looking out for the school.'' Hallowe'en stunts won't be tolerated CedarBridge Academy PTA president Patricia Basden said they met with PTB officials and came up with a few initiatives.

"We're just trying to confirm which direction we need to go in,'' she said, preferring not to disclose them at the time. However, she stressed that bus drivers were not just experiencing problems with CedarBridge students.

"According to PTB, CedarBridge is not the only school involved,'' Mrs. Basden said. "We will try to contact Berkeley's PTA and middle school PTAs and decide what we could do collectively. We still need to meet with bus drivers.'' However, she pointed out that the bus violence issue was not going to be solved by parents or schools alone.

"It's a general appeal, even to the community, because we can't separate ourselves from the rest of the Island,'' Mrs. Basden said.