ATLANTA — Hundreds of students in the Atlanta area and surrounding counties are heading back to the classroom, and many of them will use the school bus to get there.
But with COVID-19 cases still on a concerning uptick, many parents are questioning how those buses will be cleaned.
“This is a great responsibility because you're carrying somebody's child," said Trenton Dale, who has been an Atlanta Public Schools driver for 23 years. "Their lives are in your hands. You have the most precious cargo of somebody's life.”
Dale said he's not messing around when it comes to keeping the kids safe and healthy.
“I tell every parent, and all my parents know me and they know I don't tell stories, these buses are clean and they’re ready for your children," he said. "I guarantee it.”
Skye Duckett is human resource officer at APS, and a parent herself.
"As a parent and as a school district employee, I feel like we have some of the most robust measures that I've seen," she said.
APS will start the school year requiring masks on buses regardless of vaccination status. Same goes for a few other districts like Clayton and DeKalb. That could change based on case data.
Every major district in our area confirmed they’re mandating wipe downs on buses after every single run.
Most are also doing deep cleans at least once a week. Some – like APS – will deep clean every day.
“The drivers have been very well trained and have had a year of practice and how to sanitize their buses and how to enforce all of the safety procedures and the health procedures that we have in place," Duckett said.
Clayton County drivers were recently equipped with state-of-the-art sanitization guns.
“Parents should be confident that our buses are clean, we're going to do what's in the best interest of the students," said Denise Hall, transportation director for Clayton County Schools
Another element of many districts' bus safety plans is the close monitoring of cases so that if there is a positive case, they can quickly take that bus out of rotation for a 24 hour full deep clean.