Administrators,
As you work through your Administrative Assurances Checklist, I’d like to offer some suggestions regarding the section “Plans to support ‘Bussing’”. Your support and collective efforts are critical to the success of our students loading and unloading school buses.
School bus drivers will generate seating charts for all students assigned to their buses, so you and your staff do not need to develop a separate seating chart. In terms of loading and unloading and the enforcement of the mask mandate by executive order, you can best assist our drivers and attendants in the following ways.
- Ensure students are sitting in their assigned seats and wearing face coverings at all times while riding the bus. Drivers and attendants will do their best to make certain students are sitting in their assigned seats and complying with the mask mandate. However, if a student refuses to comply, the Department of Transportation will contact the school administration. If a call comes your way, please meet with the student, the student’s parent(s) if necessary, and the driver to enforce assigned seating and/or the wearing of face coverings.
- There are a few things to be mindful of in preparation of loading buses during school dismissal. If you haven’t done so already, please take time to identify an area within close proximity to the bus lane (typically the entrance to the playground, a playfield or other area large enough to accommodate students who ride the bus). Once you’ve identified an area, organize all students in lines according to their assigned bus. As an example, if your school has 4 buses, you should have 4 lines. School staff (generally teachers) assigned to supervise bus duty will need to communicate with each other when buses are ready to load. Please load buses according to which bus is first in line then work your way down the line. You do not need to wait until a bus is completely loaded before the next group of students is excused to load. Several buses can load simultaneously.
For many of you, this process has already been incorporated at your school and has been working for years. For those of you who do not currently have a bus loading plan, please generate one prior to the first day of school.
Special Education Support Programs and DK have their own loading process which is currently working great. Therefore this would not apply to the Special Education Programs.
Don’t hesitate contacting me with questions, concerns, or if you would like suggestions on how to manage this process at your school. You can reach me at 801-567-8820.
Thanks for your support.
Paul Bergera
Director of Transportation
Jordan School District