Like the West Liberty Schools, transportation has taken a whole new approach with the start of the school year last week, fighting the COVID-19 pandemic with their wheels constantly turning.
With students and drivers all required to have face covers and disinfecting taking place after every trip, West Liberty School District Transportation Director Roger Morrison says things are as normal as they can be with the start of the new school year on Sept. 8.
“I don’t know who much more a person can do,” Morrison said in his department’s attempt to not only keep students safe from the health epidemic, but drivers as well.
He said procedures have been relaxed since this past summer when his team was transporting the high school softball and baseball teams, then required to have six foot distancing on the bus ride. “We could only get about 11 people on a 65 passenger bus,” he said, noting today up to 40 people ride including many family members who sit together. Morrison said everyone has cooperated from the beginning, all knowing the rules and riding with face masks, “all in the safety of the students and drivers,” he said, noting the fact there aren’t as many students daily because of the split of classes which has lowered the number of riders.
His department’s nine drivers take out the district’s nine buses every school day beginning at 6:45 a.m., with the final bus returning to the garage in Liberty Park by 4:15 p.m., where each bus is disinfected on the inside, most of the time by each driver.
Morrison says the process usually takes just 5 to 10 minutes as all the seats, rails, drivers’ area and the entire inside is sprayed with a disinfectant. “Anything a kid might tough gets sprayed,” he said.
Spending his last eight years in transportation at West Liberty, Morrison says parents, drivers and the students have all been 100 percent cooperative in abiding by the rules, from not allowing food and drink on the bus (which has always been a rule), to making sure everyone has a mask, wearing it all the way through a route, the longest at 70 miles.
“Sometimes the kids forget their mask. Once you tell them, they put it on right away,” said Dick Reimers, one of the drivers. “The kids are really good – very well behaved.”
Morrison said each bus does have extra masks in case a student forgets or doesn’t have one with them and said each bus is equipped with sanitary wipes and a bottle of disinfectant as well. “I’d hate to see what the school district is spending on disinfectants,” said Morrison, noting even his special backpack sprayer that is used retails for $2,500, pointing out the district bought one for each building.
The director says the whole transportation experience with the new school year has gone better than anticipated, but said it’ early and many families are still getting used to the routine of being picked up every other week as classes were separated into groups.
He said drivers are reminded each day of the list of students they need to transport, crediting the school administration team for their hard work.
Superintendent Dr. Diego Giraldo said he’s happy with the way the first week has gone in the transportation department, noting even parents have complimented the process, one mom happy her two children could ride together.
Other regular drivers on the transportation team on a daily basis include Terry Struck, Kevin Grotto, Bob Shelf, Jay Meyers, Nora Tieji, Kelly Adams, Don Ruess and Marlin Daufeldt. Morruison said there are substitues as well.
Morrison said his department is proud to be in their new facility where all the buses are housed and maintained and was also pleased to add a new handicap accessible bus to the fleet, capable of carrying 39 passengers and used daily for special education students.