DES MOINES, Iowa — School districts turned in their own homework on Wednesday when they submitted Return to Learn plans to the Iowa Department of Education.
Their submissions included details for how their districts will operate when students return to class in the fall.
One of the issues being talked about is how children will be bused to school.
"I've heard everything from, 'I don't care I'll be back no problem,' to 'I don't think I'm going to drive,'" said Ankeny bus driver Michael Kentopp. "A concern I have, in order for us to maintain social distancing, I'm imagining you would have to have a minimum of two to three times as many buses we do now."
A virtual press conference was held Wednesday between teachers, doctors and the Iowa State Education Association, who also raised concerns on returning to school.
Regarding busing, Dr. Megan Srinivas, an infectious disease physician from Fort Dodge, said, "We don't have a perfect plan for that yet."
"As an education system, educators are very creative about coming together and recognizing the problem to begin with so we can come up with a good solution," she said.
Local received the following statement from Durham:
As a longstanding industry leader in providing safe student transportation, our leadership has taken a proactive and hands on approach to lead through the Coronavirus pandemic. Recently, through our membership in the National Student Transportation Association (NSTA), we partnered to form The Student Transportation Aligned for Return to School, or STARTS, Task Force includes collaboration between the National Association for Pupil Transportation (NAPT), the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services (NASDPTS), and the National School Transportation Association (NSTA). Bob Ramsdell, our Chief Safety Officer, will be working with other industry leaders on this task force to focus on how we will resume student transportation safely.
It is important to note that our partner, Ankeny Community School District, has supported us through the shutdown of schools. They stepped up for their members of the community by ensuring that the transportation operations stayed intact during the shutdown to enable a very smooth transition come school start-up.
We are working lockstep with our partners in each district, which includes Ankeny Community School District. We will work together to provide what is required for each of our customers. The safety, health and well-being of our passengers and employees will remain our number one priority.
WATCH: Complete "Return to Learn" coverage from Local 5 on YouTube