The Houston Educational Support Professionals union, in conjunction with the Houston Independent School District, will host a town hall meeting on Thursday to discuss the importance of wearing three-point seatbelts when they are available on HISD school buses.

Union and district officials hope to encourage parents and community members to talk to students and remind them about the importance of always buckling up.

HISD administrators announced in November that all new school buses purchased by the district would include three-point seatbelts. The recommendation by the HISD Transportation Department was made just days after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration provided new guidance on the issue, updating their position to suggest that students should have access to three-point seatbelts.

About 40 buses purchased following that announcement and equipped with three-point seatbelts are expected to arrive this summer. Transportation Department officials have said the new buses will be assigned to the district’s highest-mileage routes.

The meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016, at Peck Elementary School, 5001 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.