As the world prepares to start a new school year amid a global pandemic, local school districts are doing their best to ensure that the returning students will have as safe of an environment as possible. For example, Clay County School District in Florida, located 30 miles south of Jacksonville, outlined its new safety precautions and guidelines in an informational video released by News4Jax.
Derald Sweatt, transportation director for Clay County School District, demonstrated the safety precautions, which consist of:
- Wearing a face mask will be required for everyone on the bus. If a student forgets to bring a mask, the driver will have masks that they can use.
- There will be hand sanitizer stations located at the entrance of the bus.
- A back to front seating system will be used to cut back on the amount of interaction among students.
- To comply with the six feet social distancing guideline, the two front seats of the bus will be left unoccupied for the driver’s protection.
- Not only will all buses be sanitized with a cleaning spray every night, but as outlined in the instructional video, “they will be sprayed down after every route.”
Sweatt concludes the video with a reassurance that, “We are going to be very strict about what we use on our buses,” as Clay County welcomes students back to school on August 25.
Clay County’s announcement of a more rigorous sanitation routine and seating modifications to abide by social distancing guidelines will likely be followed by similar releases from other school districts as we approach the beginning of the 2020-2021 school year.
