As we move through this pandemic, how do we see the future of the school bus? How do you follow social distancing recommendations? These are all things that school districts across the country are trying to figure out along with how they operate the school day within the school buildings. So what are some possibilities?
You will be cleaning!
Hopefully all of you always kept a clean bus. If not, well buckle up! Cleaning is going to be one of your top priorities. At the beginning and end of each day. In between bus routes. Spraying, wiping, washing high-contact surfaces. Windows, seats, handrails... everything! Get used to it. It's the new normal, no matter what.
But at the end of the day you always want a clean bus. It not only promotes a clean shared space, but shows your students that you care about providing them a clean space and allows you to set the bar to their expectations of keep the space clean. Don't make a mess, leave trash on the floor. It's not the way they found it, it should not be left that way. Give them some responsibility and ownership of the seat space you assign to them.
Masks?
Will you be required or encouraged to wear a mask while driving with students on? Who knows. If we are still encouraged to wear them in public, then I would suspect it could happen. With the number of students that you would come in to close contact with each time the get on or off the bus each day, it's probably not a bad recommendation. We all know that personal space is hard to come by during loading and unloading.
Now in terms of your schedule. What could that look like. Here are some possibilities we came up with.
We go right back to "normal"
Full steam ahead! We jump right back in to our regular routines. Get out there and pick up our kids just like we did before. Load them up and get them all to school and back home each day. One, two, three kids to a seat. 50, 60 70 students on a bus. Sure it's a possibility. How likely? It is still way too early to tell, but it can't be ruled out as an option.
Split school days?
Students could potentially start the year with a mix of distance learning and time spent in the classroom. To reduce the number of students both on school buses and in the classrooms at one time, this could certainly be a possibility. It could be that certain routes operate as "morning session" and others as "afternoon session." If you have 10 buses at your school, 5 could become the morning bus routes and 5 the afternoon ones. If you do multiple tiers of bussing then of course the scheduling of multiple schools would come in to play to make everything line up on each bus route.
You could also alternate days where every other day certain students go to schools and the alternate day they do distance learning.
There are so many possibilities with this scenario. It will be interesting to see how schools may manage this scenario logistically if they were to choose to go this route.
Double Runs
Ok, so the students are going to go to school every day, but we can only have "x" number of students on each bus depending on its size. So now your you have a "double route." Example, the West half of your route you pick up first and bring them in, then go back out and pick up the other half. Now for large, rural districts this would be a struggle with time constraints, but in smaller or more urban districts, this could be a potential new routine where your one elementary route becomes two and same with your high school and middle school group. We may even require spaced seating. Do we seat every other row? Stagger sears from one side to the other? Can we put more than one student in a seat? Who knows? Your miles traveled each day could increase!
Distance Learning Continues
No students are returning to the school buildings in this scenario. We pick up next school year just as we are leaving this year. We are using our staff and buses to distribute food and school work to students who are continuing to learn remotely from home. Not many of us want to see this option become reality but it can't be completely thrown aside.
What will be the "new normal" that you return to this fall? Only time will tell. Just be open-minded. Know any decisions that are made are not made lightly. They are decisions that impacts hundreds and thousands of people. Everyone is trying their best to adapt in the safest manner possible. Be willing to do your part and make the necessary adjustments you need to as well. Hopefully there will not be negative impacts or cuts to student transportation, but only time will tell on what resources will truly be needed moving forward. Just be in it together.
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