Parents'/Guardians' daily responsibility to assess their child’s health
Parents must assess their child’s health before sending them on the bus/van or dropping them off at school. Please see Public Health Ontario resources on COVID safety and a self-assessment tool.
Public Health Ontario Resource
Parents will be required to pick up their child at the bus stop or at the school immediately upon identification of a sick child. Unsupervised sick students at the stop will be isolated on the vehicle upon boarding, to the extent possible. The student will be required to wear a mask during the trip to school.
The Principal will determine if an identified student may return home on the bus, with proper precautions.
Preparing students for their trip to school
Respiratory and hand hygiene are critical mitigation strategies that limit the transmission of viruses. Students are encouraged to wash their hands thoroughly and/or use hand-sanitizer prior to going to the stop, and then sanitizing their hands again (using their hand-sanitizer) before boarding the bus.
Students wearing masks
All students, in KG to grade 12, must wear a mask while on the school bus, unless unable to do so for medical reasons or due to special needs.
While at school, only grade 4 to grade 12 must wear a mask, however it is strongly encouraged that KG to grade 3 also wear a mask.
Everyone's responsibility
Please keep in mind that reducing COVID-19 risk of transmission is everyone’s responsibility.
Reviewing basic school bus safety rules is also critical, particularly for first time riders. The following resources are available to teach young students school bus safety: here
Enhanced cleaning protocols
Enhanced cleaning protocols will be implemented to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19. Disinfectant cleaner, that follow health authority regulations, will be used to wipe down high touch surfaces between each run.
It should be understood that there may be sensitivities to such cleaners, however, their use is necessary in delivering a safer transportation service.
Selecting the best mode of transportation for individual family bubbles
If eligible students and their parents choose not to use NETBST’s transportation services, we ask that you opt-out as soon as possible by contacting your school.
This will assist NETBST, the School and Public Health to perform contact tracing on students who are actually riding the bus, if a suspected case of COVID-19 is identified. Eligible students may opt back into the service at a later time, although reassignment to transportation may take some time depending on the volume of changes.
It is recommended that parents and students use active transportation to get to school as much as possible. Walking and rolling the whole way, or part of the way, will reduce traffic around the school and provide a mask-free experience.
Seat Assignments
Students who live in the same household will be expected to sit together, while single riders may be grouped with classmates, to the extent possible.
Drivers will be responsible for telling students in which seat they should sit. The student must stay in their assigned seat during every ride in order to maintain cohort bubbles to the extent possible. This reduces virus transmission and facilitates contract tracing for public health.
Kindergarten students will be seated near the front, and parent/guardian will be required to meet them at their stop, as usual.
Seat assignments may change due to new registered students, however NETBST may attempt to limit changes to seat assignments, if necessary.
Waiting at the stop
Parents/guardians and students are expected to do their best to maintain adequate physical distance between family groupings. A distance of 2m between families is suggested.
It is important that students arrive at their designated stop at least 10 minutes before the posted stop time.
Arrival of the School Bus
Once the bus arrives, students should not crowd the front door. Rather, students should line up while maintaining a 2m physical distance between them, where possible.
No more than one student should be on the stairs at a time. Students should get to their assigned seat and sit down with their bag on their lap as quickly as possible.
Meeting the Driver
Operators will do their utmost to keep the same driver on the same run, every day.
Drivers will be expected to wear a mask unless they are unable to do so due to a medical condition or because it interferes with their vision. As students board, drivers may be wearing a mask and face shield or goggles.
This can be frightening for children, who may not recognize their friendly face. Parents/guardians should consider talking about this aspect of the ride with their children before their first trip on the bus, and supervise them at the stop until they board the bus.
Personal Protective Equipment
Because Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is designed to protect the wearer, drivers of yellow buses and vans will have the option to wear whatever PPE they feel protects them best. Drivers may or may not wear face shields or goggles during loading or while responding to a first aid event.
These drivers should wear a face shield or goggles, a mask and may wear a paper gown when handling and securing individual students’ wheelchair. The driver should use hand-sanitizer before and after handling each student, or wear disposable gloves.
Loading and unloading at the school
Students should use their personal hand-sanitizer as soon as they get off the bus and before entering the school, if possible. Schools will direct students to make their way to the appropriate location for their class cohorts.
At dismissal time, Schools will do their best to maintain class cohorts until it is time to load buses/vans. Class cohorts may be separated into family cohorts upon loading, based on seat assignments.
Contact Tracing
In the event there is an individual, whether School Staff, Driver or Student, identified as potentially having COVID-19, and who may have come in contact with students on a particular bus, the School will contact the local Public Health Unit. The Public Health Unit will conduct contact tracing based on predetermined criteria and advise the school and affected individuals regarding next steps to take. This may or may not include self-isolation, or other measures.
Drivers wanted
School bus operators are currently recruiting for our bus routes in all areas of our district.
To learn more about becoming a school bus driver please contact one of our contracted school bus operators.