Reopening Plan Main Page | School Bus Staff | More Transportation Safety Provisions
Parents/guardians will be encouraged to provide their own transportation in the 2020-21 school year to reduce density on the buses, however, the District will continue to conduct transportation activities that are consistent with state-issued public transit guidance and NYSED School Reopening guidelines.
Students and school staff will be required to wear acceptable face coverings at all times on school buses (e.g., entering, exiting, and seated) and should maintain appropriate social distancing to the extent practicable.
Students will be required to wear masks and social distance on the bus to the extent practicable; however, students whose physical or mental health would be impaired are not required to wear a face covering, but must be appropriately socially distanced. Members of the same household will be required to sit together on the bus. Again, parents and legal guardians are encouraged to drop off or walk students to school to reduce density on buses.
All buses that are used every day will be cleaned/disinfected once a day. High contact spots will be wiped down after the morning (AM) and afternoon (PM) run depending upon the disinfection schedule.
School buses will not be equipped with hand sanitizer due to its combustible composition. School bus drivers, monitors and attendants must not carry personal bottles of hand sanitizer with them on school buses.
Wheelchair school buses will configure wheelchair placement to ensure social distancing of 6 feet.
Whether school is in session remotely or otherwise, pupil transportation will be provided to nonpublic, parochial, private, charter schools or students whose Individualized Education Plans have placed them out of District whose schools are meeting in in-person sessions.
All students are entitled to transportation by the District to the extent required by law. Transportation departments do not have the ability or the right to deny transportation for children who are in foster care, homeless or attend private or charter schools. Parents who may have missed the due date to request out of District transportation due to a reasonable excuse may file a 310 appeal with the Commissioner of Education.
School Bus Staff
School bus drivers, monitors, attendants and mechanics are required to perform a self-health assessment for symptoms of COVID-19 before arriving to work. If personnel are experiencing any of the symptoms of COVID-19, they will notify their supervisor as per the reporting policies and seek medical attention.
School bus drivers, monitors, attendants and mechanics must wear a face covering that covers their nose and mouth.
Transportation staff (drivers, monitors, attendants, mechanics and cleaners) will be trained and provided periodic refreshers on the proper use of personal protective equipment and the signs and symptoms of COVID-19.
Staff will be encouraged to provide their own face covering. The District will provide Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) such as masks and gloves for drivers, monitors and attendants in buses as well as hand sanitizer for all staff in their transportation locations such as dispatch offices, employee lunch/break rooms and/or bus garages.
Drivers, monitors and attendants who must have direct physical contact with a child must wear gloves.
More Transportation Safety Provisions
Other bus safety provisions for onsite instruction and transportation:
- Parents/guardians are encouraged to drive or walk students to school to reduce density on the buses.
- Students will be assigned seats and will use those assigned seats daily
- All staff and students will wear face coverings, except students who are medically unable to. Extra face coverings will be available on the bus.
- Students from the same family must sit together. All other students will be seated one per seat, to the extent practicable, up to 50% of bus capacity.
- To reduce mixing student cohorts on the buses, students will not be permitted to alter from their scheduled morning and afternoon routes. If a student is transported somewhere other than their home address (daycare, second home address), that alternate transportation would take place every day of the week with no exceptions. Students will not be transported to another student’s home.
- There will be no late buses.
- To reduce congestion K-5, elementary arrival will be between 9:05 a.m. and 9:10 a.m. Parent drop-off will be from 9:15 a.m. to 9:25 a.m. Dismissal will be 3:20 p.m. for buses. Walkers, bikers and family pick-up will be at 3:10 p.m.
- Drivers will take attendance on each run for each school for contact tracing purposes.
- Students will be seated on the bus from the back row to the front (where the first passengers on the bus sit in the back row) and then unload the bus from front to back, by row and seat. This will reduce the number of people students walk by as they get on the bus and will prevent crowding in the center aisle when the bus is unloading.
- A temporary monitor may be assigned to certain buses at the beginning of the school year to facilitate successful compliance with school health policies, especially for younger students.
For more information about training protocol for students and staff and how transportation information will be communicated, visit the Communication/Family and Community Engagement section of our reopening plan.