SPECIAL REPORT
school bus in Indiana and was left alone for most of the day. Then, in November, a 4-year-old student in Coweta County, Georgia, fell asleep on a school bus and ended up alone on a neighborhood street. Disinfection and more thorough cleaning may be a
newer practice, but such a procedure is an opportune time for drivers to deliberately ensure no students fell asleep or for whatever other reason did not get off the bus. “We are cautious not to replace bus drivers and moni-
tors, not changing them or the bus for the specific route,” explained Kathleen Bodie, the superintendent of Arlington Public Schools, which serves a northwest suburb of Boston. “Students are assigned by names to specific seats. Occu- pancy is at approximately 25 percent. We run some routes more than once for this reason, disinfect between each run. Before the drivers leave the bus at the end of the day, they must walk the length of the bus to press the child- check button, then go back to their seat to continue to secure the bus, turn it off, sweep the bus, disinfect the bus.” Meanwhile, Austin Independent School District in Texas requires bus drivers to perform an empty seat procedure
after every run, to ensure no students are still on board. “The driver does an actual walk-through of the bus at the end of each trip, looking under the seat and places an empty sign on the rear exit window, indicating that the check has been performed,” relayed Kris Hafeziza- deh, the executive director of transportation and vehicle services. “Once a driver has completed their route, they do perform a thorough cleaning of the bus as well as on a daily basis. All buses are also sprayed with a disinfect- ing chemical.” For many school districts, policies regarding account-
ability aren’t necessarily new, but greater sanitation actions are. For many if not most districts, existing policies for a post-trip check is modified to incorpo- rate these increased sanitation measures as well as an accountability check. “We have not created new policies. We will have new
protocols regarding using hand sanitizer when students enter and exit the bus, seating charts, required face coverings, and cleaning/sanitizing of the buses between routes,” said Lori Blakeslee, a spokeswoman for Green
Smaller, Cleaner, Smarter
• Compact size is easy to mount in many locations
• O2
feedback means cleaner burning with less maintenance — typically 2 year PM
• 31,000 BTUs means clear windows — supplemental mode keeps engine and
interior warm under all conditions
• Programmable multiday/event timer means your buses are ready to go
when you need them
• Easy to use desktop app to program your entire fl eet, schedule holidays,
special events etc.
www.proheat.com 40 School Transportation News • MARCH 2021
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76
