ST. JOHNS, Fla. – Schools across Florida are rushing to make sure they’re prepared to reopen for the fall, and in St. Johns County, the district is working to figure out how students will be able to ride a bus while still following CDC guidelines.
The St. Johns County School District says it already struggles with funding costs for buses, and making sure students are staying apart could prove costly, requiring the district to bring in more buses.
“If we were trying to try to make accommodations to socially distance on our buses, it will cost us an exponential amount of money,” said Board Chair Beverly Slough.
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She continued, “We transport about 60 kids on a bus in the morning but if we were to have to make accommodations for social distancing, those numbers of students will be cut in half, which would require many more buses, many more drivers, double runs, all kinds of things.”
Since it might be difficult to keep students six feet apart, the district has said the best solution is to make sure every student on the bus is wearing a mask.
“It will be a sort of a work in progress in order to get compliance with kids in that way but for their safety it’s worth the effort,” Slough said.
Slough said the school board’s goal is to ensure students learn to keep their masks on at all times.