Districts’ data spotty on bus cleaning
Some area school districts are not keeping track of when school buses are sanitized as required by the state, an SA Insider investigation has found.
Most schools districts have reopened with an option for in-person learning — either part-time or full-time — and school transportation can be a hotspot for spreading coronavirus if not handled carefully.
Included in the Department of Education’s school reopening plan is state guidance directing school districts to “increase cleaning and sanitizing for all vehicles, and keep associated logs.”
Hearst Connecticut Media requested the cleaning logs from several area school districts, including Greenwich, Stamford, Norwalk, Bridgeport, Middletown and Torrington. Only one district, Stamford, provided a record of bus sanitizing.
Three school districts reported they didn’t have the data while other districts either didn’t provide the data or didn’t respond to requests. Some districts, such as New Haven and Danbury, have yet to begin
in-person classes, opting for full distance learning for the first few months of the school year.
Some districts said the school bus companies keep track of when buses are cleaned.
Peter Yazbak, a spokesman for the department, said the state requires the districts to keep logs “since their contracts are directly with the companies.” He said the state doesn’t keep reports of bus sanitizing, rather it’s up to the individual bus companies and districts.
Yazbak said the format of that documentation is a local decision.
The Department of Public Health advised schools that while contaminated surfaces aren’t thought to be very effective in transmitting coronavirus — as compared to exchanging respiratory droplets — some risk remains for spreading the virus through touch points.
For this reason “careful attention to proper cleaning and disinfection schedules and procedures can reduce the viable virus load in indoor spaces like schools,” the department said in a memo.
The department recommended daily cleaning of all surfaces on buses with additional cleaning of touch points such as hand rails between trips.
Bus drivers in Trumbull recently complained, as part of their union contract negotiations, that they weren’t being given enough masks or guidance on how to handle situations when children refuse to wear face coverings.
Who is responsible?
Torrington Superintendent of Schools Susan Lubomski said the district doesn’t have cleaning logs, but they’re something the bus company, All-Star Transportation, maintains.
All-Star spokeswoman Brenda Bass said buses are cleaned after every run and at the end of each day, but their records are only releasable to their contracted partners.
Bridgeport Superintendent Michael Testani also said in an email “no comment” when asked if the district kept logs.
“You can ‘assume’ this to mean that the district doesn’t keep them,” he said in an email.
Norwalk Public Schools Chief Communications Officer Brenda Williams said the bus company, Durham School Services, should be contacted about logs.
“The district’s transportation coordinator has been conducting spot checks throughout the district to make sure that protocols are being followed,” Williams said.
Williams said Norwalk is implementing cleaning logs this week, so no past logs were avail
able. Buses are cleaned twice a day and high touch areas are spot cleaned throughout the day she said.
Edward Flavin, spokesman for Durham, said their sanitation logs are only released to partner schools upon request and not media outlets.
Flavin said vehicles are disinfected twice per day by drivers — once after the morning run and once after the afternoon run — and high touch surfaces are disinfected between each school route. Flavin said extra paid time is given to clean the buses.
He said employees are given a disposable face mask in the morning with a second mask available for them in the afternoon in addition to disposable nitrile gloves and face shields for employees who come into close contact with students.
However, Mustafa Salahuddin, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1336, said Durham School Services isn’t being as safe as it claims.
The union is in contract negotiations with Durham School Services and has tried to make safety standards part of the negotiated contract because drivers were reporting they weren’t getting a second mask for afternoon runs and buses weren’t being cleaned on their regular days.
Salahuddin said he has encouraged the school districts that his members work in to get more information and verification from the bus companies.
“They can only go on face value of what the company is telling them,” he said.
Stamford is the exception
New Haven Public Schools and Stamford Public Schools contract with First Student, Inc., which is responsible for cleaning and sanitizing their school buses.
Stamford was the only district Hearst Connecticut Media contacted that provided a cleaning log.
The district provided a week’s worth of the sanitation checklist maintained for all its school vehicles, dated Sept. 25 through Oct. 1, verifying that all passenger seats, touch points and driver areas were sanitized each day.
Stamford’s log lists every vehicle, its make and model, and the route it was on for a given day with the name of who sanitized it. An X marks each day the sanitation protocol was completed for the vehicle.
The district’s first day of school for students was Sept. 8, utilizing a hybrid of in-person and remote learning.
When asked for logs of sanitizing and cleaning, Chief Operating Officer of New Haven Public Schools Michael Pinto, directed the inquiry to First Student and was not responsive to requests for documentation from the district.
New Haven schools have been fully remote since returning Sept. 3 with the exception of busing some private and charter schools, and some students in special education, according to an NHPS transportation update from late September.
After the first marking period, transportation will start in early November to support a hybrid learning model, utilizing busing district-wide.
“At First Student, there is nothing more important than the safety, health and well-being of our students and employees,” company spokesman Jay Brock said in an email responding to an inquiry asking whether First Student maintains cleaning logs.
Brock said all “school buses are cleaned and disinfected daily using Signet Neutral Disinfectant DS1, which is registered on EPA List N as being effective against COVID-19.”
“At First Student, there is nothing more important than the safety, health and well-being of our passengers and employees,” Brock said when asked again about any logs kept. “We are in constant communication with district leaders regarding bus disinfection to ensure a smooth and safe transition for back to school. We will continue to actively monitor the ongoing situation in partnership with each school district.”
Danbury and Greenwich school districts contract with Student Transportation of America. Neither district provided documentation related to cleaning logs requests.
Greenwich’s Assistant Superintendent of Schools Ann Carabillo said STA is responsible for maintaining the log of daily and nightly sanitizing and cleaning.
“They are following all safety measures as required by the (state)”, Carabillo said in an email.
Greenwich schools reopened Sept. 9., providing options for full-time instruction in person and full-time remote learning.
Middletown Public Schools did not respond to any inquiries regarding bus cleaning logs. Students returned to school Sept. 3 in a hybrid model. According to their reopening plan, buses should be cleaned between each tier — elementary, middle and high school runs.
Not in school — yet
Danbury public schools started remote learning Sept. 8. The city had planned on opening schools under a hybrid model, but a spike in coronavirus cases in late August forced the district to pivot from the original plan.
The city’s public schools will be reopening with a hybrid inperson learning model beginning Oct. 26 for all grades. Preschool is expected to return the following week.
“Keeping Danbury students and the bus service employees safe is our top priority,” Courtney LeBorious, director of finance and operations of Danbury Public Schools, said in an email response to an inquiry for cleaning logs.
“All vehicles are cleaned in accordance with applicable federal, state, local and district guidelines with cleaning materials approved by the CDC and EPA,” she said. “High touch points are wiped down after each run with a CDC-approved sanitizer and buses are cleaned with an antimicrobial agent based on the manufacturer’s recommended schedule.”
LeBorious said the district has a process of regular audits of school buses to ensure the proper policies and procedures are being followed.
“It is not accurate to say we do not require a log, we do not check regularly that the bus company is complying with all legal requirements,” she said in an email.
When asked for documentation of the audits, LeBorious did not respond.
Student Transportation of America did not return a request for information.