JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Alicia Varona’s daughter has a long commute to her magnet school in Riverside. Her parents, who live in Oakleaf, take her to a designated bus pick-up in the morning and then the bus takes her to school. The hassle, COVID-19 aside, is worth it to her family, who love the education she gets at school.
“If she didn’t ride that bus, due to where we live and where my husband works, she would end up having to go to the school I teach at, which is fine, but this school allows her to be bilingual,” Varona said.
In the 24 hours leading up to the first day of school in Duval County, more than 1,100 parents made the same decision to sign their students up to ride the bus. A total of 29,000 students are expected to take the bus — 11,000 fewer than the district carried all last school year.
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In years past, students did not have to register to ride the bus. This year, the school district feared overcrowding on the buses would lead to the spread of the coronavirus, so the district is now assigning students seats on the bus.
In Facebook and Twitter posts in response to frustrated parents with complaints about not being assigned a bus stop, school officials instructed students who had not been assigned a stop yet to go to the nearest bus stop to them and operators would pick them up anyway.
Duval School Superintendent Dr. Diana Greene told board members July 13 the district could not follow Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines on the school bus. Greene estimated it would take operators 10 hours to deliver students if they were to put one student in every other seat.
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In a memo to school bus drivers, which DCPS officials confirmed reflected the transportation department’s guidelines to bus carriers, drivers were instructed to assign one student per seat but warned operators that would not be feasible on every route.
Drivers and students are required to wear masks, and district officials are supplying each bus with a supply of masks to give to students who show up to the bus stop without a mask. Hand sanitizer is also being provided to bus operators.
Varona, who put her daughter on the bus for the first time this school year, feels confident in the precautionary measures in place to keep her daughter safe.
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“My understanding is that she was social distanced enough. She wore her mask. Her bus driver was wearing her mask,” said Verona. “It’s a magnet school bus. So, obviously they carry less, from what I understand.”
Verona says she’s also comforted by her relationship — and trust — she has with her daughter’s bus driver.
“I trust her with my children,” said Varona. “She loves them like her own. She is absolutely the most amazing soul I have ever trusted my children with in the school system.”
The school district’s and bus companies’ refusal to maintain the CDC’s suggested six feet of social distance prompted negotiations between Jacksonville’s school bus operator union and bus companies to stall.
Thursday, Local Union 512 business agent Rebecca Cardona said the companies and the union reached an agreement on the minimum measures for a safe work environment, but added some school bus drivers will be unable to return to work “due to health conditions and being in other high-risk groups.”