The basis for the Appellant's request that the bus stop be relocated and the subsequent appeals is their contention that the current bus stop is unsafe for the students and that loading and unloading them in the cul-de-sac would be safer.

The school-aged children who live on N.W. 80th Lane attend the Ankeny Schools and are transported to and from school by a District school bus. To load and unload the students, the bus stops on U.S. Highway 415 where the highway forms a T-intersection with the entrance to N.W. 80th Lane, which is a cul-de-sac. U.S. Highway 415 is a two-lane road with a speed limit of 55 miles per hour. The sight lines for drivers are unobstructed, and no signs warning of an upcoming school bus stop have been installed. In June 1998 some parents of these students asked the Board that the bus stop be relocated to the cul-de-sac. The Board denied the request. In July 1998 the parents appealed to the AEA Board, which upheld the District Board's decision. At its March 1, 1999, meet-ing the District Board was asked by the parents to reconsider its June 1998 decision. It declined to do so, and the parents appealed for a sec-ond time to the AEA Board, which held a hearing on March 18, 1999, and unanimously denied the parents' request. This appeal to the director of the Department of Education followed.

The question before us is whether the decision by the Ankeny Board and affirmed by the Heartland Area Education Agency Board not to relocate the school bus stop in question was a proper exercise of its authority under the law and the Iowa Administrative Code. The Appellant, N.W. 80th Lane Association, argues that the following standard should be used in answering that question: the routes and stops must be the safest possible, and most convenient possible, when balanced against the areas available to stop a school bus and the ability to do so.

We disagree that this is the appropriate standard. The phrase, "the safest possible" does not occur in the Iowa Code or in the Iowa Administrative Code in reference to school bus routes or stops. The phrase, "the greatest possible convenience to the pupils," does appear in 281 Iowa Ad-ministrative Code 43.1(5) in reference to school bus routes. This standard, however, must be applied in conjunction with another requirement of the same section of the Administrative Code. That section limits riding time on a school bus to 75 minutes per trip for high school students and 60 minutes per trip for elementary students. 281 Iowa Administrative Code 43.1(3). The proper standard of review is the duty established by Iowa Code section 285.10(2)(1999), "to properly safeguard the health and safety of the pupils transported." The evidence and the testimony showed that the District is fulfilling this duty in regard to the bus stop in question.

The testimony and evidence presented at the appeal hearing support the District's position that the bus stop at U.S. Highway 415 and N.W. 80th Lane is safe and should not be moved to the cul-de-sac. The specialists in the field of school transportation who evaluated it unanimously reached that conclusion.

The decision of the Heartland Area Education Agency's Board of Directors made on March 18, 1999, denying the relocation of a school bus stop onto N.W. 80th Lane, was affirmed.