Abstract: A guard for a school bus which consists of a sheet of flexible material which can be extended into an open planar state and which can be reduced into a compact folded state. A connector is connected to one edge of the sheet and is pivotally connected to a fixed portion of the school bus for movement between a first position in which it is effective to extend the sheet of flexible material and to a second position in which it is effective to cause the sheet of flexible material to be reduced to a its compact state. A selectively actuated driving mechanism moves the connector selectively between to the first and second positions.