ROYAL CITY - The Royal School District Transportation Department spent Thursday deep-cleaning the buses and making sure new measures were ready to go with students beginning to head back to school today.

“Every driver had to come and disinfect, a deep clean, top to bottom, floors, seats, windows, disinfected the whole bus so it’s ready for tomorrow,” said Ernesto Deras, director of maintenance and transportation for the school district. “And that happened today.”

The Royal School District has 14 bus routes, but Deras said he expects fewer students will be riding the buses each day with the new A/B schedule in place. He said a recommendation came down to parents to try to transport their children, and he expects a lot of parents will do so.

On each bus, a second person will ride with the driver to screen the students as they enter. Bus drivers will have the same screening process each day, all part of efforts to combat the spread of coronavirus.

“That person will be screening students, taking their temperatures, and we have the questions from the Grant County Health Department that we have to ask,” Deras said. “We’ll have kids sitting by household, that way they’re not crossing with other kids.”

Hand sanitizer and face masks will be provided for students who may not have them, as everyone on the bus is required to wear a mask. Deras said they’re hoping to be able to space students in every other seat.

In the event of a student posing a risk of exposure, he said the dispatch office will contact parents immediately, he said. Drivers will work with parents to make sure the student makes it home safely, he said.

While the school year looks different starting off this year, Deras said they’re fortunate to have a great team at the school district working to find the best solutions.

“We have such a great team that everyone has great ideas, and we are still working hard on trying to improve, or getting other information to keep those kids safe while we transport them, and while we teach them,” Deras said.

Jodi Conrad has been a bus driver in the school district for about 10 years. Conrad said Thursday she is “immensely excited” to see the students again for the first time since March.

“We haven’t seen them," Conrad said. "They’ve grown, they’re excited I’m sure."

After months of waiting to see how things would play out with school restarting this fall, she said it’s nice getting back to into the rhythm of everything.

“It’ll be nice to get back to a routine,” Conrad said. “It might be a little bit of different routine, but a routine nevertheless.”