Behind The Front Lines - Getting Students To School Safely

This is the first in a series of articles, “Behind the Front Lines,” recognizing the importance of Troy Community School District 30-C’s support personnel. The work they do greatly contributes to the education and well-being of our students and often goes unnoticed.

During a normal school year and during this year when hybrid learning was in place, Troy students reliably appear promptly in their classrooms each school day and re-appear at their homes at the end of the day. The district’s youngest students might be picked up from their homes around the noon hour or dropped off at their homes around mid-day.

In addition, students are taken to and from sports events and practices, clubs and activities, field trips and charity functions, after school and even on the weekends.

Getting them to and from these destinations is the responsibility of the Troy Transportation Department.

The 47 bus drivers, 17 bus monitors, mechanics, dispatchers, safety coordinator and administrators of Troy Community School District 30-C’s Transportation Department take their responsibilities very seriously, making sure their charges are in the best of hands as they make their excursions.

Transportation Director Mark Baumann said it’s a responsibility the team handles well. Especially during this time of Covid-19.

During the periods the district has been in hybrid learning, when some students learn at school and others from home, drivers have had to add quite a bit to their responsibilities.

Students who are learning remotely are temporarily removed from the bus route schedules.

Students who attend classes at Troy school buildings are sorted into “A” and “B” groups. Those groups are transported to the schools on different days of the week, which means bus drivers have to alter their routes depending on which group will be attending on a particular day.

Drivers or monitors also take the temperature of each student on their bus. They take attendance, as well, make sure students are wearing their masks, and assign them seats at appropriate distances from other students.

If a student tests positive for Covid-19, the department does contact tracing and notifies the appropriate staff and families.

Transportation staff also disinfect their buses front to back after every route, which can be four times a day.

“It’s wonderful to see how they have been so willing to adjust on the fly,” Baumann said. “This year has made me really appreciate their flexibility to change course on short notice. With all of the changes this year, they are great team players.”

His staff has also had to adapt to taking on extra or different responsibilities when a co-worker has to isolate at home for a period.

They have also chipped in to help other departments by delivering lunches to families who are not able to pick them up and by helping the Technology Department assemble new equipment for the school year.

All of this, and they still continue to tend to the buses, whether for a mechanical issue or their normal pre-trip checks. Even if it’s in the dark and the temperatures are below freezing and it’s sleeting and windy, drivers arrive early in the morning and check the tires, lights, mirrors, seats, emergency exits, under the bus, and more.

Baumann said the students his staff transport become “their kids.”

“It’s interesting to me how quickly the staff think of them as ‘my kids,’” he said. “They are always concerned about them, and they care about them. They can tell when they’re having a rough day. One of our drivers, Barb Gray, goes to their graduations. They look out for them.”