Parents all over the county have been waiting to send their children back to in-person classes, but since school bus services aren’t available to all students – because they have to operate at 50-percent capacity – working parents are facing a new challenge brought by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Different districts are offering different school schedules. For example, Carmel Unified will offer full-time, in-person classes starting April 19. Monterey Peninsula Unified School District will return elementary students to the classroom four times a week and provide before – and after-school care for those who qualify. Meanwhile, homeless students and essential workers’ children will have a full day, including care, from 7:30am to 4pm.
Superintendent PK Diffenbaugh says MPUSD is using its own school buses and contracted six extra buses from Michael’s Transportation for special education students and those whose main barrier to attend is the lack of transportation.
In order to provide expanded bus services, he says guidelines surrounding spacing on school buses need to be relaxed.
Misty Shields, a mom and full-time student, says MPUSD’s plan doesn’t prioritize student needs. School will start at 9am, when her husband won’t be able to drop off their son, a fifth-grader at Monte Vista, so she will have to make an additional trip. Shields says the district schedule is arbitrary, made without parent input and was “a take-it-or-leave-it option.”
They are considering sending their 10-year-old son to a private or online charter school. Shields also notes differences between school districts: “Carmel is in our own county, and they are going back in a much larger capacity,” she says.