Bus drivers want HISD to provide disinfectant to keep kids from getting sick

HOUSTON - Houston ISD bus drivers have come up with a plan to help fight the coronavirus and they're asking the district to jump on board.

Since sanitizing your hands and shared surfaces are among the best ways to combat coronavirus, HISD bus drivers are asking the district to provide hospital-grade disinfectant so the buses can be cleaned.

“They have a wash crew that washes the buses on the outside but we’re asking HISD to go beyond the measure of just washing the buses on the outside. This is a serious situation,” says Houston Educational Support Personnel (HESP) Union President Wretha Thomas.

Because of coronavirus, the union wants the district to provide cleaning supplies, including hospital-grade disinfectants so bus drivers can sanitize the buses daily.

"When they get in from their afternoon run they’ll be given gloves and masks so they can clean every seat on the bus,” Thomas explains.

"We just have to be safe. It’s all about safety,” adds HESP Vice President Sibyl D. Hunter.

HESP says HISD has agreed to disinfect the buses but the union is now taking its request a step further, asking for widespread sanitizing similar to what's now being used in Klein ISD.

"Just get ahead of it and thoroughly clean all of our schools, all of our buses. Everything our students and staff utilize we need to have that taken care of,” says Hunter.

Of course, there have been no cases of coronavirus in HISD or in the Houston area and they hope to keep it that way.

"It’s a proactive measure that the union is suggesting HISD do because most of the time the reaction is after the fact,” says Thomas.HISD district offices are closed today because of the water main break but HISD recently posted on its website the district is in contact with the Centers for Disease Control and following their recommendations.

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