Buses are weak link in opening
Parents choose to take kids, while drivers weigh risks of work
When it came to deciding whether her 14-year-old son should do virtual learning this fall or a hybrid schedule that lets him go back to school two days a week, Lisa Luciano was comfortable in sending her son to Parkland High School given the district’s social distancing guidelines.
But Luciano was less confident about how social distancing would occur if her son Logan rode the bus home every day like he did last year when she worked at a local bank. This year, she has decided to drop her son off every morning on her way into work and take a late lunch break every afternoon to pick him up. It’ll be tricky to coordinate her work schedule, but Luciano said that’s better than the bus option.
“I’m not comfortable with the kids being that close to each other,” she said.
It’s a sentiment that many parents have, even as they come to terms with sending their children back to school. As districts decide on reopening plans that space out desks and enforce mask-wearing, they also need to figure out how to get children to school in a way that protects them and the bus drivers.
Superintendents and state Education Secretary Pedro Rivera have acknowledged that transportation is going to be a difficult problem to solve. For some
districts, it involves students getting on the bus from the back, wearing masks at all times and sitting with siblings instead of friends. Special education students who are unable to wear masks or have physical disabilities will be handled on a case-bycase basis.
“Bus routing is always incredibly complex and more so this year,” Bethlehem Superintendent Joseph Roy said. “It’s going to be a work in progress.”
The complexities of busing could further exacerbate the bus driver shortage that schools are facing, said Mike Berk, executive director of the Pennsylvania School Bus Association. Bus drivers typically are retired and older, putting them at a higher risk of catching the coronavirus. Berk said some might decide to walk away this year and not return.
There is also a concern that because most districts have a hybrid schedule with at least one full day of virtual learning and no bus runs, some drivers might not be able to continue because of the cut in hours, and pay.
“We’re worried about that,” Berk said. “We’re watching those results.”
In Northampton, Superintendent Joseph Kovalchik said a few drivers have already said they will not be returning this year.
“It’s difficult to secure drivers in a normal year, and now with the pandemic, it will become more difficult,” Kovalchik said. “If this trend continues, we will have to make an adjustment to our transportation plan.”
‘This is how we get kids to school’
When the Bethlehem Area School Board voted earlier this month on the hybrid schedule, busing came up numerous times during three hours of public comments. Among the questions from parents were: How will 6 feet of social distancing be enforced on the bus? Will the district provide masks for students before they get on the bus if they don’t have one? How will the mask rule be enforced on the bus?
The board — like its counterparts in districts across the region — didn’t have all the answers.
“Certainly school buses are going to be a challenge,” board President Michael Faccinetto said during the meeting while reading the comments about buses.
The East Penn School District, where only elementary school children will physically go to school, acknowledged as much in its Health and Safety Plan filed with the state, saying, “We cannot guarantee social distancing on district transportation.”
As part of its reopening plan, Bethlehem will allow 48 students per bus. When possible, siblings must sit together. Masks will be required for students and drivers. Buses will have some masks for students who show up at the stop without one.
Buses be will cleaned and sanitized twice every day — once in the morning after taking students to school and again in the afternoon when students are dropped off.
“It’s not ideal,” Roy said during the board meeting. “But this is how we get kids to school.”
When it comes to making sure students are wearing masks, it can be a challenge if there are no bus monitors or other adults on the bus. Berk, with the Pennsylvania School Bus Association, said districts across the state are trying to figure out how to make sure masks are worn. Whatever districts come up with, enforcement can’t be the responsibility of the bus driver, Berk said.
“You want drivers keeping their eyes on the road,” Berk said. “A lot of this is going to fall on parents to work with their kids and help their kids understand it’s going to be different when they get on the bus this time around.”
Local districts indicate that many parents, like Luciano in Parkland, are saying they will take their children to school this year, rather than put them on the bus. But some parents are not able to get children to school because of work schedules.
That’s why Darla Malik, with Advantage Limousine Co. and
Chauffer Services in Macungie, posted on an East Penn School District Facebook message this month. The limousine company, which has lost business during the pandemic, is offering transportation options for parents concerned about school buses.
As on the buses, drivers and students will wear masks in limos and hand sanitizer will be provided, Malik said. Without going into details, she said the company will not charge “superstar rich” rates.
Malik said parents have expressed interest but none have committed.
“Parents are worried,” she said.
Like Bethlehem, Northampton is also requiring that siblings sit together on the bus when possible.
But its buses will have fewer students than usual because, like Bethlehem, Northampton will have a hybrid schedule that allows only half of the student population to be in a building on a given day.
Almost 20% of the district’s 5,500 students have chosen to do their lessons all online, meaning they will not be in school or ride the bus. Additionally, a number of parents indicated in a survey that they plan to drive their children to school rather than let them take the bus.
Parkland put out a two-minute YouTube video explaining bus practices to its youngest students. Using school mascots as examples, the video reminds young children that they can say hello to their friends and stand in line to board the bus — but they must be social distancing and wearing masks. The video encourages students to use the hand sanitizer available at the door when they board and when they leave the bus.
Normally, three Parkland students sit in a bus seat, but the district is cutting it down to two this year. With the exception of first grade and kindergarten students, children will fill in seats from back to front to limit their interaction with bus drivers.
Even districts that have settled on virtual learning need to consider bus safety because they are legally required to bus charter and parochial students who live in the district. Allentown, for example, will conduct virtual lessons for the first marking period, but more than 4,000 students in the city attend charter schools. While some, like Lincoln Leadership and Executive Education, will do online learning, a few are giving the option of in-person lessons.