EDMONTON -- School bus drivers from across the country say they鈥檙e debating getting back behind the wheel in the fall, citing a lack of protection and conflicting guidelines within the education system amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Despite each province releasing guidelines for the reopening of schools in September, school bus drivers who spoke with 麻豆影视 say they have been 鈥渇orgotten鈥 by the education system, with murky plans for how physical distancing will be implemented and mixed messages about safety precautions.

鈥淲hen children are loading, and unloading, we are extremely close to them鈥攈alf the time we get hit with backpacks,鈥 Michelle Lavallee, a bus driver in Ontario鈥檚 Durham Region, told CTVNews.ca by phone Friday.

鈥淲hat would happen if something were to happen to me with my own kids? I鈥檓 scared of bringing it home to my husband or to my own children. Where is the protection for us drivers?鈥

Lavallee says that while many provinces plan to group children into cohorts to accommodate physical distancing and easier contact tracing, there has been little guidance about how cohorting will work on buses.

In Ontario, officials encourage that students be assigned seats on buses, with students from the same home or class seated together. But full-size school buses typically transport up to 70 students of all age groups.

Drivers like Lavallee say they haven鈥檛 been told whether they will be transporting less children to accommodate physical distancing or who will be responsible for cleaning buses in between routes, leaving drivers in the dark just weeks before the start of the school year.

鈥淎s of right now I don鈥檛 know [if I will go back to work]. I can鈥檛 answer that because I don鈥檛 know what we鈥檙e going back to,鈥 the 14-year veteran driver said.

In Manitoba, provincial guidelines recommend only one student per seat on buses, unless they鈥檙e sitting with someone from their own home or in-school cohort, presenting unique challenges for organizing bus routes for students in rural areas.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not feasible to just go out and pick up that cohort because that grade could live in a huge geographical area, especially in a rural division," Alan Campbell, president of the Manitoba School Boards Association, .

Elsewhere in the province, school divisions will be forced to drastically reduce ridership, giving priority to students with special needs.

A retired school bus driver from the Saskatoon area also , noting that there isn鈥檛 enough time to sanitize properly between pickups, especially when servicing multiple school routes per shift.

Unions that represent bus drivers worry that not enough is being done to protect drivers, especially in a system that relies on retirees or those over the age of 60.

鈥淭he school bus transportation system has been built on a model of recruiting retirees,鈥 Debbie Montgomery, president of Unifor Local 4268, Ontario's leading school bus driver union, told CTVNews.ca by phone.

鈥淪ixty per cent of people providing transportation for children are at an age that public health has said is vulnerable just by virtue of their age.鈥

Montgomery notes that unlike public transportation buses, school bus drivers will not be separated by Plexiglas barriers.

鈥淒rivers are sitting ducks. We cannot move once we鈥檙e in that seat,鈥 said Montgomery. 鈥淲e鈥檙e wondering why our safety at work doesn鈥檛 mean as much as anyone else鈥檚.鈥

Montgomery says drivers require clear answers about their concerns before they can make an informed decision about going back to work.

鈥淗ow do drivers make an educated decision? We鈥檙e in the midst of a pandemic, we don鈥檛 have enough information, nobody is answering our questions鈥 how do they determine whether or not they can be safe at work,鈥 she said, noting there is just three weeks left until the school year begins.

鈥淚f we don鈥檛 get some pretty straight answers and quickly there is going to be a big problem... you鈥檙e not going to have enough people to drive a school bus. I guarantee that.鈥

Quebec union president Caroline Laplante agrees that measures unveiled by the province's education minister do little to address concerns voiced by bus drivers, noting that many drivers have already threatened to quit.

鈥淚鈥檓 worried and everyone I represent is worried," Laplante .

鈥淲e鈥檙e being told we can accept between 44 and 48 children on the bus -- it changes all the time,鈥 Laplante said.

Quebec鈥檚 provincial guidelines state that there should be no more than two students per bench, with a maximum of 48 students per bus.

The guidelines do not include specific rules for school bus drivers, other than a recommendation that drivers be protected by a plexiglass barrier.鈥