Masks now mandatory for all Hamilton elementary students on school buses

Backpack? Check. Lunch? Check. Mask ... Check.

Both Hamilton school boards announced Friday they will have a mandatory-mask policy for students riding the bus this year.

The mandate, which applies to all public and Catholic board students from junior kindergarten to Grade 12, comes in response to a recent provincial suggestion that board buses may have to operate close to capacity" come September.

Along with a mask requirement, both boards say they will introduce other health and safety measures on buses, including hand sanitizer for riders, masks and face shields for drivers, disinfection of high-touch areas, and a deep clean of buses at the end of each day.

The requirement supports our joint efforts to do all we can to ensure the health and safety and well-being of our students, staff and bus drivers as we prepare for the reopening of our schools," said Patrick Daly, chair of the Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic District School Board.

Within the next week, both boards will ask families whether they will opt-out of transportation to better gauge capacity numbers and organize seating plans.

While parents and staff in the city's public schools have raised concerns over classroom sizes and safety protocol, bus drivers worry that overcrowding and scarce supervision could turn buses into hot beds for novel coronavirus spread.

Nearly 13,000 Catholic board students and 31,300 public board students took the bus to school in 2019.

The Spectator reported last September that a shortage of bus drivers plagued both boards' joint student transportation service, causing thousands of students to be late for school.

It's unclear whether more drivers were hired to cope with the increased demand for space amid the pandemic.

The province announced $40 million in funding for cleaning and personal protective equipment for bus drivers, but did not offer funding for additional drivers or buses.

Alex Johnstone, chair of the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board, called the lack of funding for busing and driver shortages extremely" disappointing last week.

This was an issue we flagged long before the pandemic," she said, and ever since the pandemic we've raised this issue with the province several times."

- With files from Jacob Lorinc

Sebastian Bron is a Hamilton-based reporter at The Spectator. Reach him via email: sbron@thespec.com