he school transportation industry in getting students to and from school safely and efficiently.
State Guidance on Reopening Schools Post-COVID-19: Shares recommendations developed by nearly every state regarding social distancing, and the need for additional cleaning, especially for high-touch areas. Most social distancing guidelines on school buses restate the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC] recommendations, that students should be seated one per seat, skipping rows. Many states also link to the cleaning and disinfecting guidance issued by the CDC on bus transit operators for cleaning school buses.
STARTS (Student Transportation Aligned for Return to School) Guidelines, Tactics and Templates: Offers a school reopening planning resource for school transportation professionals. The Student Transportation Aligned for Return To School (STARTS) Task Force was formed as a partnership among the National School Transportation Association [NSTA], the National Association for Pupil Transportation [NAPT], and the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services [NASDPTS]. The task force, during 2020-21, developed materials to support the school bus industry’s response to the challenges of school reopening in the context of COVID-19.
Here's One Way to Keep School Buses Safe During the Pandemic: Reports on the measured effectiveness of layered strategies of universal masking, ventilation and cleaning buses that has limited transmission of COVID-19 among students in a closely monitored study in Virginia. ““There was no evidence of COVID-19 transmission during bus transport, even at distances of 2.5 feet, with two-thirds of bus routes at full student capacity, and during the highest community incidence rates of COVID-19, which were 53.2 to 525.7 per 100,000 population,” researchers from Eastern Virginia Medical School found.
Recognizing Innovation in Student Transportation During COVID-19: Shares exemplary strategies used by two recognized school systems (Arlington Heights, IL and Detroit, MI) for leveraging student transportation technology to creatively serve their school families and communities.
CARES Act Funds Student Accountability, COVID-19 Cleaning on Georgia School Buses: Describes how the Marietta (GA) City Schools used Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act funds to install ionization units and student RIFD card readers, to increase bus cleaning and student accountability, respectively. Director of Transportation Kimberly Ellis said the 9,000-student district immediately responded to the pandemic last year by purchasing technology that ensured both student and staff safety.
Returning to School: Mitigation and Mental Health Strategies: Presents archived recording, slides and transcript of January 13, 2021 national webinar by the Centers for Disease Control on how to optimize mitigation strategies and mental health to facilitate a safe return to schools in this new year. The presentation included 1) user-friendly tools and information for schools to inform the selection and implementation of COVID-19 mitigation strategies; and 2) information about how to support and promote mental health for students and school staff, both in-person and virtually.
Selected Return to School Resources: Offers an extensive list of information resources from national organizations and agencies to support planning and preparation for return to in-person learning for K-12 students in 2021-22. To support efficient navigation, the Department of Education’s Comprehensive Center National Network provides short descriptions of each hyperlinked document.
Monthly School Survey Dashboard (Institute of Education Sciences): Provides monthly data from 46 states describing the degree to which schools offer remote-only, hybrid or full-time in-person instruction; the proportion of students enrolled in each instructional modality; the attendance rate for each modality, disaggregated by various student groups; and teacher vaccination rates. Recent data published by ED’s Institute of Education Sciences f