As school districts prepare to launch the fall semester from home, bus drivers and custodians say now is the time for them to get ready for the return of kids.
With no kids to pick up, bus drivers have been staying busy by delivering meals to kids who need them and driving the buses around so that they can be used as WiFi hotspots. Janitors have also been keeping busy by maintaining the classrooms.
But. advocates say that school officials should be using this time to come up with more comprehensive plans for how support staff will do their jobs once students return to the classroom.
"When they're all out at recess and they go back into the classroom, the custodians should be wiping down the doors and all the railings and the playground equipment and all of that stuff. And that is an extra duty that they would have now that they didn't used to do," said Ben Valdepena, president of the California School Employees Association representing drivers and custodians.
He said that most districts still have not considered how hybrid and in-person models would impact other school staff.
For example, districts know how long a gallon of cleaner used to last, but have not accounted for the impact of increased cleanings on supply and staffing.
"The thing that worries me the absolute most about opening up the schools is that our school districts are not preparing to clean," he said. "They're not preparing to sanitize the schools the way they need to be."
Some of the Bay Area's biggest school districts have already announced the new school year will be fully virtual to start, and after Gov. Gavin Newsom said Friday that districts should close for in-person instruction if the county they are located in is on the state's COVID-19 monitoring list, it remains to be seen whether any Bay Area schools will be able to open their campuses next month.
