THUNDER BAY — One of the questions on an online back-to-school survey recently posted by Thunder Bay school boards asks parents if their child will use bus transportation if classes resume this fall.
The answers will provide essential information for three local boards and the transportation consortium that oversees their busing system.
With barely six weeks remaining until the new school year, Student Transportation Services of Thunder Bay faces the difficult task of planning for different levels of service without knowing which one will ultimately be required.
That's because the province still has three options open: a normal school day, a modified school day with smaller class sizes and students attending on alternating days or weeks, and online learning only.
Consortium manager Craig Murphy says "There are lots of decisions within the education area that have yet to be made. All the boards need to have three different plans ready to go, but it won't be until sometime in August that the ministry tells the boards which plan they can go with."
The most straightforward option would ordinarily be a full return to classes and the resumption of bus routes and schedules that were in place last year.
However, health and safety requirements related to COVID mean buses that can normally carry as many as 72 primary grade students may be restricted to one student for each of the 24 bench seats.
The province has not issued protocols on safely operating school buses but is encouraging school boards to refer to Transport Canada's guidance for school bus operations as part of their student transportation planning.
In a posted statement, the education ministry said: As a result of physical distancing expectations, the ministry acknowledges that transportation planning will be challenging due to the reduction in vehicle capacity to accommodate students, which may result in school boards and consortia transporting fewer students. Given local circumstances differ across the province, school boards, in partnership with their local health units, should determine what protocols are required as well as any subsequent impacts to service levels.
The ministry is also suggesting that where physical distancing is not possible, the use of non-medical face coverings or masks should be considered for students.
"Twenty-four students is what we're looking to be restricted to, That's certainly something we need to be prepared for," Murphy told Tbnewswatch.
If the province opts for a modified learning system, with only half the student population going to school at a time, he said the consortium and its busing contractors should be able to adjust to a 24-passenger limit.
But Murphy added that "time is very short" to put schedules in place, noting that the school boards don't know yet which students will be going to school on which days if classes do resume.
Busing companies, he said, have done a lot of research on their own as they waited for further direction from provincial officials.
"Obviously we've reached out to the health unit and they've given us a little more guidance. Things are still in very general terms, and we're working within those terms to be able to offer safe transportation for the students while still being efficient."
Operators already know they'll be required to sanitize compartments and high-touch surfaces after each morning run and afternoon run.
School boards have indicated they will work with their contractors to cover their extra costs.
Murphy said health officials are also recommending that students wash their hands before boarding the bus, and again when they arrive at school.
"There's only so much you can control. There will be a lot of education pieces for students on the safe way to ride the bus," he said.
Responses to the return-to-school survey are due by July 24.
