As students head back to class, Wisconsin State Patrol Superintendent Anthony Burrell offers a refresher about school bus safety laws motorists should follow.
From dealing with an ongoing driver shortage to ever-changing health and safety protocols, pupil transporters are charging ahead and using those experiences as fuel for planning a successful 2021-22 school year.
According to Burbio, a community events data service that tracks school openings, several school districts are delaying school start and opting for virtual learning due to an increase in COVID cases and quarantining.
The pandemic has created a rare opportunity to see what happens when students sit 6 feet apart, the total number of riders is reduced, and attendance keeping and seat assignments become critical, routine activities.
As school districts across the U.S. prepare for a return to classrooms this fall, the CDC updates its guidance for K-12 schools by urging them to reopen for in-person learning and maintain at least 3 feet of physical distance between students, combined with indoor mask wearing.
Momentum is growing to return to full operation. For pupil transporters, that means addressing potentially greater driver shortage, factoring in the added responsibilities of sanitizing the buses — possibly as a permanent practice — and returning to managing more staff members in person.
More than 51% of students nationwide can receive in-person instruction, and less than 20% attend school virtually. New 3-feet social distancing guidance from the CDC is expected to accelerate on-campus learning.
The number of students attending school virtually drops to under 25% as COVID-19 cases decline. Governors push for some students to return to campus in March or April.
K-12 students learning remotely dips since an apparent peak in early January. Just more than one-third are currently receiving virtual-only instruction.
According to community events data service Burbio, 53.4% of U.S. K-12 students are now learning remotely. Many schools that are virtual-only now will likely shift back to in-person instruction in the coming weeks.
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