Not only will classrooms look different for students this fall, but the way some make it to school will also change.

“The ride to and from school will look a little different,” said David Richardson, executive director of student operations for the Greece Central School District.

What You Need To Know

  • The school bus looks to be a different experience for students this fall compared to years past

  • East Irondequoit and the Greece Central School District are planning on how kids will enter the bus, who takes their temperatures, and how the buses are cleaned afterwards

  • Students must wear masks when on the bus, unless they are documented as medically fragile 

Students will be required to wear a mask at all times, unless the student is documented as medically fragile – in that case, the student must be socially distant.

School districts will have to deal with a 50 to 60 percent cut in capacity when carrying students this fall as well.

“Our plan is to put one student per seat, and a large bus is 22 kids on a large bus, if we have students from the same family, they will be allowed to sit in the same seat which would increase capacity to maybe 25 or 26," Kathleen Callon, transportation director for East Irondequoit Central School District said.

“So we’re asking parents to partner with the district to help us with transportation of their child to and from school," added David Richardson.

Loading and exiting the school bus will be different as well.

Both East Irondequoit Central School District and Greece Central School District tell Spectrum News students will fill the bus starting from the back, to the front; and exit from the front to the back seats.

The responsibility of taking temperatures will not be the responsibility of bus drivers and aides.

That responsibility will fall on parents before getting on the bus, but students will be screened once arriving to school.

Students will also notice that windows and roof hatches will be open slightly to improve ventilation only when the temperature is above 45 degrees.

After each run, the bus drivers will clean the bus.

“The common touch spots, the doors, the rubber on the doors, the handrails coming up the stairs, as well as the back of the seats that the kids touch as they go up and down the aisle, and then there will be a complete sanitation of the bus at the end of the morning shift, or else at the end of the afternoon shift, every bus will be sanitized every day," Callon said.

Transportation directors say while most of the bus safety plans in our area are the same, there are some slight variations depending on how the district interprets the guidelines from the state.