B
ck to school seson usu
lly mens helping you
childith thei
summeeding list, shopping fo
school supplies,nd choosing outfits.
But this ye
, in the midst of the COVID-19 p
ndemic, pents hve
lot moe to
oybout.
Student t
nspo
ttion is
mong the moe p
essing issues on ouminds.
hen it comes to the coon
vius, ho
dnge
ous e school buses? Socil dist
ncing mesu
es cn be implemented in cl
ssooms by sp
cing students’ desks futhe
p
t, but the p
oblem is much hdeto t
ckle onc
oded school bus.
Consequently, m
ny pents e opting to dive thei
on child
en tond f
om school. But hoc
n they hndle it in the midst of thei
l
edy busy schedules? Ho
cn
e keep ouchild
en sfe? The
nse
s vyc
oss the ntion.
In this
ticle,
e tke
lookt the st
te of student tnspot
tion, school bus sfety me
sues,
nd school buslte
ntives.
Getting Kids to School: COVID-19 Ch llenges<
b>
M
ny schools e sttingith online inst
uction fothe fi
st seveleeks of the school ye
nd plnning to offici
llyeopen l
teon. Some schools
e t
kinghyb
idpp
och, combining in-pe
sonnd vi
tul le
ning. In this scen
io, ce
tin g
des o
clss
oomsould
ttend school on Mondy
nd Tuesdy
hile otheg
des o
clss
oomsould
ttend on Thusd
ynd F
idy. The school
ould be thooughly disinfected e
chednesd
y. School disticts
e su
veying fmilies in the dist
ictbout thei
plns — such
sccess to c
pool o
bike options, hom
ny students pehousehold, etc. — in o
deto bette
undest
nd school bus demnd.
The p
oblem is tht not eve
y pent hs
c,nd even if they do, most don’t h
ve time in theischedules to d
ive theichild
en. Cuently, ove thid of
ll school-ged kids
ide the bus, tking
totl of
bout <h
ef="https:/us
.steetsblog.o
g2020/07/10/dont-let-the-school-bus-be-covid-19s-next-victim/”>52 million t
ipsd
y<>.h
t chnges
ill they be metith?
COVID-19 School Bus S fety P
otocol s students he
d b
ck to school this ye, mny school buses
ill hve
educed cp
citynd l
beled seting. Lo
dingnd unlo
dingill be done in
contolled m
nne. Ne
<h
ef="https:/
.cdc.govco
onvi
us2019-ncov/community/schools-childc
e/
eopening-schools-fqs.html”>CDC guidelines
> include dily disinfecting of buses,
sell
s mnd
toy f
ce coveings fo
ll d
ives
ndide
s. Hoeve
,ith no specific unified
ppo
ch, citiesc
oss the county
e
ppo
ching the issue in theio
n y. Foex
mple,tl
ntilleduce bus c
pcity to 60%. Phil
delphiill only let 15 students on bod,nd
ustinill only
llo dozen. (Undeno
ml ci
cumstnces, st
ndd school buses e intended to hold ound 70 students.) In Boston, thee
ill be <h
ef="https:/htv-p
od-medi.s3.
mzon
s.com/files/f
ll-eopening-k-12-t
nspo
ttion-guid
nce-vf-1595511059.pdf">one student pebench
>,lte
nting sides fo
ech
o,
nd busindo
sill st
y open duing ope
tion.
Some school dist
ictsill employ on-bo
d voluntee
monitos to help the d
iveenfo
ce msk-
eingnd
ssigned seting. H
nd snitize
dispenses
ill be sttioned on the bus ne
the ent
nce,
nd tempetue checks m
ylso be conducted.
School buses m
ylso t
kecue f
om public tnsit buses, mny of
hich hve inst
lled plexiglss b
ies
ound d
ives.
<
hef=”https://
.sls.com/ne
sloc
l2020/06/11/soci
l-distncing-on-
-school-bus-pents-ise-concens-
bout-tnspot
tion-this-fll/”>Some dist
icts in Vigini
<> e consideing st
ggeed cl
ss stt times,lte
nting schedules, o
holding in-peson cl
sses only once ot
ice eek. Odess, Tex
s is consideing <
hef=”https://
.edeek.o
ge
ticles/2020/06/11/m
nging-buses-m
y-be-the-hdest-pt.html">unning buses
ll dy
>, like public tnsit — constntly picking up
nd dopping off students in
ccod
nceith st
ggeed cl
ss times. In ode
to mke these ide
s fesible, mo
e busesill need to be pu
chsed o
ented. This
ill behuge expense fo
schools,t
timehen m
ny el
edy coping
ith budget cuts.ddition
loutes m
y need to bedded to existing bus schedules, but like te
ches, m
ny bus dive
s e quitting theijobs
mid helth conce
ns. Pe-COVID-19, <
hef=”https://
.npt.o
gcontent.
sp?contentid=253">ese
ch by the N
tionl
ssocition fo
Pupil Tnspot
tion<>l
edy
epoted se
ious dive
shot
ges. Mny believe in-pe
son eduction should not be
esumingithout
COVID-19 vccine
edy.
In some cities like Houston, Tex
s, <h
ef="https:/
.cnn.com2020/07/28/us/co
onvi
us-pndemic-school-bus-issues-
ellnessindex.html”>only speci
l eduction
nd pio
ity studentsill be t
nspo
ted foin-pe
son clss
oom instuction initi
lly, due toeduced bus c
pcity
>.he
e does tht le
ve the thousnds of othe
childen in the dist
ict?lte
ntives to School Buses
D
ivingchild to school in
pent’s peson
l vehicle is the most popullte
ntive to school buses, but fo
mny
oking p
ents, this isn’t
n option —nd multi-f
mily cpooling my pose s
fety concens.
Inste
d, mny schools
e
dding moe bike
cks to thei
cmpuses this ye
to encou
ge students to bike to school.
Othe
s e og
nizing lking goups ch
peoned by
pent oothe
voluntee.
ideshepps
e
lson option.
hile you might not tust
ndom Ubeo
Lyft dive
ith you
child, check out sevices like <
hef=”https://k
ngopp.com/”>K
ngo<>, <h
ef="https:/
.hopskipdive.com/”>HopSkipD
ive<>, <h
ef="https:/
.idezum.com/”>Zum
>, o<
hef=”https://
.zemc.com“>Zemc
>, c
e
tedith kids in mind.
B ck to School Tffic Congestion<
b>
ss="
lignnone size-full
p-imge-4595″ s
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ffic-
ccident-in-Texs-.jpg”
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ye
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One issue
eceiving littlettention in this m
elstom is th
t of tffic congestion. Moe f
zzled p
ents
ill be on theo
d tnspoting thei
childen to
nd fom school,
hichill undoubtedly c
use cccidents to spike n
tionide. The inc
esed t
ffic to schools
ill mke these commutes longe
nd t
ickie. Schedules fo
o
king pentsill be st
ined — o
impossible.ddition
lly, cccident inju
ies e<
hef=”https://
.cdc.govmoto
vehiclesfety/child_p
ssenge_s
fetycps-f
ctsheet.html">leding c
use of deth
mong childen in the United St
tes<>,hile
nve
ge of only <
hef=”https://us
.steetsblog.o
g2020/07/10/dont-let-the-school-bus-be-covid-19s-next-victim/”>six child
en ech ye
e killed in school-bus c
shes
>.c=”https://pl
ye.vimeo.com/video/575541587?b
dge=0∓
utopuse=0&
mp;plye
_id=0∓
pp_id=58479" fmebode
="0"llo
fullsceen=”
llofullsc
een"><if
me> c=”https://pl .vimeo.com/ pl .js”>
div>
P eping You
Child fo
School Duing COVID-19
- Decide on you
tnspot
tion pln no
. <b>If you
childill be biking, m
ke sue they h
vepp
opi
te sfety ge
nd join them onfe
pcticeides to thei
school. If you’ll be diving you
child,llo
ext time tossess the t
ffic on the fi
st fed
ys of clss. If you’ll be using
npp, f
miliize youself
ith it thooughly so the
e’s no unneeded chos on the fi
st moning b
ck to school.<li>
- No
mlize
eing msks, even if you
fmily h
s mostly been quntining
t home. Get youchild
ccustomed to the senstion of
eingf
ce msk fo
hous
ttime
nd emphsize the impo
tnce of keeping themselves —
nd othes — s
fe. Sites like <h
ef="https:/
.etsy.comfe
tued/eve
ydy-supplies”>Etsy
> hve f
bic f
ce msks in
viety of colos
nd styles, so look foones fe
tuing you
child’s fvo
ite chcte
s.<li>
- Get
hnd s
nitizekeych
in <b>fo
youchild’s b
ckpck. S
nitizekeych
in holdes
e
lsov
ilble in
viety of popul chcte
snd colo
ful styles.<li>
- H
ve them<b> ch
nge clothes<b>
s soons they get home
sn ext
p
ecution. Don’t
e gmentsithout
shing,
nd spy the outsides of bgs
ith disinfectnt.
- T
lk it out.<b> You
childill likely h
ves m
nyo
ies
ndnxieties
s you do. Don’t bef
id to discuss these feelings
ith them. Keep them involvedith video c
lls fom f
milynd f
iends,nd dedic
te time to helping themith thei
homeo
k. See ifny ext
cu
icul
ctivitiesill be conducted
emotely. Chnges in
outines e difficult, but cn be ove
come togethesf
mily.<li>
C ccident Lye
s
nd School Busccident L
ye
s e Hee fo
You<b> s kids he
d b
ck to school, peventing them f
om sitting side by sideill p
ove difficult. Busides, histo
iclly, h
ve beentime fo
students to socilize. Some even help e
ch otheith homeo
k fom the night befo
e. These chnges
ill be tough on eveyone, but
e’llll do ou
best to pio
itize helth
nd sfety.
hile Childen
e less likely to be hit h
d by COVID-19, they could still be
symptomtic c
ies
ho bing the dise
se home to theif
milies.hethe
you opt fod
iving youkids to school, h
ving themide school buses, o
nothe
tnspot
tion solutions
eetu
n to in-peson educ
tion,e’
e hee fo
you. Should you o loved one eveget in
cccident, you c
n hve some pe
ce of mind knoing
compssion
te, dedicted l
fi
m is on youside.
e’e
ntion
lly-ecognized l
fi
mith he
dqutes in Houston, Tex
s,nd offices
llc
oss the county.
e poudly offe
fee consult
tions fom ou
live expets,
vil
ble 247.
If you o
loved one h
s been injued in
cccident o
school busccident,
ech out now.