COVID-19 school bus rules mean assigned seating for siblings and daily attendance

How students get to school is changing this fall, as student transportation services take new precautions to manage the spread of COVID-19.

In Sudbury, bus routes and planning for all four school boards is managed by the Sudbury Student Services Consortium.

Rene Boucher, the executive director of the consortium, said there are two main changes ahead for students: bus drivers will takedaily attendanceand seating will be assigned.

Parents need to register their children for transportationin theSudbury Student Services Consortium's Parent Portal as soon as possible, said Boucher.

"Parents will need to opt in, and they also at some point if they need to opt out, they need to go back in to our Parent Portal and opt out their child from busing," said Boucher."And that with that information we will be able to do the correct assigned seating on buses."

Seats will be assigned and kids may or may not like what's planned.

"What the guidance is saying is that students should be paired up with siblings or people with whom they are living with," Boucher said. "So that will be our assigned seating plan if children are picked up from the same household... they will be sitting together on school buses."

Students in grades 4-12 will also be expected to wear masks, Boucher said, and buses will be cleaned twice a daywith special attention paid to high-touch areas.