SPRINGDALE, Ark. — Typically, when you think of school buses you might think of crowded lines and a few kids to a seat.
Although that might be the case in a normal year, things will look quite different for bus riders in 2020.
Starting at the bus stop, kids will be required to social-distance and wear masks, a rule schools hope parents will enforce.
As children get on the bus they have to get a pump of hand sanitizer at the door and then go to their assigned seat.
Seating charts will be developed after the first few days of school have taken place when they know who the bus riders are.
Once put in place, students will sit by the same person every day in order to help with contact tracing if needed.
Once kids get off the bus, there will be no hanging out before school. They will go to their classroom or the cafeteria for breakfast.
Associate Director of Transportation at Springdale Schools, Kevin Conkin, says there will also be precautions taken while kids are off the bus.
“Our custodial staff is going to do a deep cleaning of our buses at the mid-day run and at night," Conkin said. "They’re going to wipe the seats down, the dash and go through the whole bus and clean that bus and sanitize it well.”
Along with the custodial staff, the bus driver will help clean between bus riders.
If students show up without a mask, they won’t be turned away but they will be given a disposable mask from the bus driver.