Transportation for Return to Learn

  • When in-person instruction and pupil transportation resumes on September 8, 2020, physical distancing and cleaning protocols will need to be applied to school buses. WPS will adhere to all CDC recommended guidelines for bus usage during the pandemic. This includes their consideration of spacing of passengers, personal safety materials for operators, frequent cleaning/disinfection, and opening windows for ventilation. We have received VDH permission to have one child per seat on a bus, as long as they wear a mask for the duration of their time on the bus. We will have an aide assigned to each bus to help enforce mask wearing. Please take time to explain to your child that wearing a mask is mandatory to ride the bus, and no exceptions will be given. If your child cannot or does not want to wear a mask, please make sure you transport them to their school. Children will be assigned seats and must use their assigned seat to allow for contact tracing if a case of the virus arises for a child assigned to that bus.

Bus Registration

  • Due to capacity limits, all students must register for bus transportation. Please contact your school to register for bus transportation.

Seating Capacity

  • Due to capacity contraints, seating on the school bus will be limited. In addition, face coverings must be worn at all times and each bus will have a monitor to enforce face coverings. 

    This sketch is of a 77 passenger bus with 13 rows, including a maximum of 26 passengers.

    77 passenger bus

     

Additional Procedures

  • Back of school bus

    Cleaning Protocols

    Bus drivers will clean and disinfect buses between each load of children. Elementary routes are serviced first in the mornings, and once they are complete drivers will wipe down all seats and high touch points on the bus. Only then will they complete their secondary routes. Once the secondary routes are completed, buses will again be wiped down and disinfected. 

    Air Circulation

    Depending on weather conditions, we will have open windows on the bus to allow for fresh air flow and circulation. There will be days that the weather is not conducive to such measures, but we will work with everyone on board to open windows as often as possible. 

    Transportation Options

    Transportation options might be limited depending on the number of passengers we have registered. We might not be able to transport children to daycares, or make special trips to another address for your child. To help us plan our routes to the maximum benefit, please make sure that your school is aware of where you would like your child to be transported each day. Is it home-to-school-back-to-home? Or is it home-to-school-to-daycare? Or is it home-to-school-to-grandmas? Please contact your child's school as soon as possible with your preference.