Concerns raised by school bus drivers about the lack of implemented safety protocols

BY PAUL JUNOR

As the schools are set to open in September, many school bus drivers are apprehensive about the province’s back to school plan. The four teachers’ unions have expressed specific concerns in a letter dated Tuesday, August 25^th, 2020 .The Ministry of Labour stated that “Responsibility for health and safety regarding bussing lay with the employer school boards and perhaps the Ministry of Education. It had not issued health and safety standards regarding bussing.” Many school bus drivers have raised questions about their health and safety on buses now that school has started.

On August 4^th, 2020, Rob Robson, a 60-year-old Whitby bus driver stated, “Four weeks to school and we have no idea what our runs are, we don’t know what we’re going to have, we don’t know how the buses are going to be cleared. Who is going to have to clean the buses? We just don’t know. We’re in the dark,” (Global News).

Nancy Daigeault, Executive Director of School Bus Ontario states that “The operators will be working very closely with the drivers to make sure that: safety protocols are in place, they understand them, they understand when hand sanitizer is supposed to be used, how to wear your masks, and when to put visors on.”

In the government’s school reopening plan released on July 30^th, 2020, it has allocated $309 million toward issues related to: transportation, school buses and enhanced protective equipment for bus drivers. The plan recommends alternate forms of travel instead of bussing, such as: “Active forms of travel (for example, walking and cycling) and private transportation by parents and caregivers are encouraged where possible to ease pressure on transportation demand.”

In order to allay the fears of parents/guardians with respect to physical distancing on the buses, the plan recommends assigned seating. It states,

“Students should be assigned seats and a record of the seating plan should be kept to assist with contact tracing in the case of a student or driver contracting COVID-19. Students who live in the same household or are in the same classroom should be seated together.”

Mary Hemphill, a 68-year-old York region bus driver said, “My biggest concern is that the buses tend to be overcrowded at the best of times and there’s been no mention of pulling back the number of students on the buses,” (CBC News report on August 12^th, 2020). The article highlights two specific unknowns with respect to the number of parents that are willing to allow their children on buses and how many possible bus drivers will be available.

School boards in the past have had a hard time retaining bus drivers because of poor working conditions and lack of financial remuneration. As school boards release their survey of parents who opt to send their kids for in-person learning, more details will be known.

In the words of Kevin Hodgkinson, General Manager of the Toronto Student Transportation it is necessary to, “Prepare for the worst and hope for the best.”

The provincial government has decided to spend $44.5 million from the $381 million it received from the federal government on a driver retention program, and $25.5 million on bus route protection, and to reduce the number of students on buses (CBC News on Wednesday, August 26^th). This extra funding came only after about 2,500 bus drivers petitioned the government for more stringent safety protocols.