CHESAPEAKE, Va. — It’s an interesting preview of what could be the new normal, if students in Chesapeake Public Schools return to school in-person.
In a Youtube video the school district posted online, Dr. David Benson, the district’s Director of Transportation, showed a few possible options for social distancing on buses.
Benson said students and drivers would be required to wear masks on buses. Drivers would be required to sanitize the bus, front-to-back, after each ride.
One of the seating options is to have one student per seat, another would require one student per seat, skipping every other row.
Either way, Benson said the safety measures will have a big impact.
“Our capacity to be able to transport is gonna be drastically less than what we would normally be able to transport,” said Benson.
If students sat one per seat, every other seat, a bus with a seating capacity of 71 would only fit 24 students. A 64-person bus would fit 20 students, and a 24-person bus would accommodate 12 students.
A bus driver in the district (who asked not to be identified) said he’s not sure how the plan could work. Several bus drivers expressed concern through online Facebook groups.
“We were discussing commenting on other posts how we, as drivers, would not only pick them up, but how many times will we have to go through our routes per school, let alone enforce the rules,” the driver said.
Benson said the school district is currently collecting data from parents to determine how many students will need bus transportation.
“The the only issue that we may run into is if the number of students that need transportation exceeds the number that we can safely transport, it may mean that we have to drop a group of students off, and double back and get other students,” said Benson.
Chesapeake is among a group of school divisions in Hampton Roads that faced bus driver shortages last year.
Benson said the coronavirus situation has only increased the need to fill those positions.
“We are doing the absolute best that we can do trying to consider all aspects, putting surveys out to get input from our parents, trying to address as many concerns as we can with our return plan,” said Benson.
The school bus driver told us he loves his job and intends to return.
The school bus issue is just one piece of a large puzzle school leaders are trying to figure out.