When schools resume under Alert Level 2 on Monday 18th May, school transport services will also return to normal schedules. Today we received confirmation from Ritchies regarding the plan outlined by the Ministry of Education and the National School Transport Manager.
The ongoing safety of drivers and students and the ability to contact trace is a priority as we enter Alert Level 2, and will be managed in the following ways:
Actions for schools:
1. To allow for accurate contact tracing, schools must provide their transport provider with up-to-date bus lists, and must keep records to enable contact tracing to take place.
2. Any bus student who needs to travel on a different bus than usual, or any student who would like to have a non-bus student accompany them to/from school must always provide a note for the bus driver when boarding. This is really important to help schools maintain our contact tracing system.
For SKC students who require a note in these situations, please see Mrs Buckham. The best time to find her will be in Room 3, usually before school starts or at whanau time.
3. Schools are responsible for keeping their families and communities informed with the latest information about their bus services.
Actions for Transport Providers:
1. Every bus will be issued with a kit containing hand sanitiser, spray bottle of surface cleaner, disposable cleaning cloths and gloves. Vehicles and surfaces will be sanitised after each journey, by the driver/transport company.
2. All drivers will be required to use hand sanitizer prior to starting their school run.
3. Seats in close proximity to the driver will be left empty, to ensure the driver’s safety.
4. On some routes passengers transfer to specific points between buses (shuttle services). Drivers will continue to manage these, as per normal routine.
5. Transport operators will maintain up-to-date information on special assistance (SESTA) students they are transporting each day.
6. For those drivers who keep their buses at home with them, they will be required to ensure all surfaces (seat rails, window ledges, door handles and any grab rail areas etc.) are wiped over after both the morning and afternoon school runs.
7. For those buses involved in combination secondary and primary school runs (morning and afternoon), the drivers will be required to ensure the bus is sanitised to avoid any cross-contamination between student groups. NB: This will take the form of an aerosol spray used throughout the interior of the bus.
