SPECIAL REPORT
due to COVID-19. However, 70 percent still do not have a monthly cleaning budget. What’s most important to them is purchasing the most effective solution. Like many of the survey respondents, the Cleveland In-
dependent School District in Texas had to make do without a dedicated bus cleaning budget and a very limited staff amid higher expectations to safely transport students. Situated north of Houston, Cleveland ISD had remote learning for a short time starting in April 2020, but stu- dents returned to classrooms and boarded school buses by the end of the year. Emergency stimulus funding wasn’t channeled to maintain the district’s school buses, so the transportation department had to improvise new bus sanitation procedures. “It’s not enough to just wipe down the bus,” said Trans-
portation Director Cody Cox, who oversees in-house operations of more than 100 school buses. “Wipes land wherever the hand lands, and that’s how you miss spots.” The transportation department’s shop members use an electrostatic disinfection system to clean and dis- infect school buses in between each of its 8,000 daily rides. An electrostatic sprayer works by applying a small electrical charge to aerosols when passing through the nozzles. The charged droplets adhere easier and stick to surfaces. This method takes less time to cover and disin-
fect all surfaces and hard-to-reach places. At approximately $4,000 per machine, the cost can
dampen the limited custodial budget shared by district facilities. While the electrostatic disinfection system required little training, the Cleveland ISD transportation department staff and mechanics must hustle around the added time needed to clean the buses in between morn- ing and evening runs. As the state’s fastest growing school district, admin-
istrators are preparing for a doubling population from 8,600 students today to 15,000 by 2025. There are plans to build new schools and an administration building. The transportation department is adding 30 new buses per year to its fleet, making cleaning tasks even more challenging as the pandemic continues indefinitely.
Getting Help from Industry Partners The CARES Act provided a temporary source of revenue
for companies selling qualified cleaning products and services to school districts. Even with dwindling federal funding, companies encourage school districts to stay engaged with industry partners for free cleaning-related training, support and advice on sanitizing bus fleets. Transportation operators risk burning out staff members or losing bus drivers already in short supply,
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18 School Transportation News • FEBRUARY 2022
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