Bus driver shortages impact some local districts
Courtesy of Daniel Mayer
Fort Cherry School District hasn’t had issues with bus driver shortages since students returned from their holiday break.
Courtesy of Dr. Jason Hutchinson
Students are returning to classrooms across the region.
For the first time this school year, Washington School District had to call an audible.
“There’s a shortage,” said Kimberly Smith, Supervisor of Accounting and Transportation. “We have bus drivers that have been ill, that are out, that we’ve had trouble replacing. That would be the biggest challenge – if someone’s out and we don’t have enough replacement drivers.”
That challenge arose this week when staff and students returned to school following holiday break.
Smith said there were not enough substitute drivers to cover for sick ones, and the district had to combine routes to transport children safely to school. When one bus route was left driverless, its passengers were shared between two other routes.
“It doesn’t put an overage in the bus, because our buses don’t have that many children,” Smith said.
Washington is not alone in navigating transportation challenges at the beginning of this new year. Trinity School District has had to get creative in transporting students this entire school year.
“It’s been a nightmare,” said Aaron Scott, director of transportation. “We’re actually one-to-one, meaning we have no subs. We’re getting by day-to-day. Any driver we lose, we’re hurting.”
Scott said this school year, the district combined several bus routes. The district also asked parents to transport students, and recently, the superintendent sent paperwork home with students letting them know the bussing situation.
The situation began near the end of last school year, and “from day one,” Scott said, it’s been “really tight.”
In Fayette County, Albert Gallatin School District’s transportation company, Student Transportation of America, is also operating with a short staff. The company announced changes to its bus routes via Facebook Tuesday.
“Due to the national driver shortage we are experiencing route buses that are unable to be fulfilled,” STA Albert Gallatin posted. “While we are doing the best that we can, there will be some routes not covered.”
Each morning, the transportation company is posting which routes are canceled that day.
“We’ve been very, very fortunate until this week. We’ve kind of hit a bump in the road with buses not running,” said Dr. Jason Hutchinson, who is in his first year as the school district’s transportation director. “Our district alone is 144 square miles. You’re talking one bus driver who’s running a run for high school, then runs to the middle school, then runs to the elementary school. When you lose one bus driver, that makes a difference.”
On Tuesday, multiple routes were combined. On Wednesday, STA announced one Albert Gallatin bus would not operate again until Thursday.
“We’re trying to remain transparent. It’s day-to-day, hour-to-hour,” said Hutchinson. “We’re trying to post, we’re trying to be transparent and let the parents know.”
Hutchinson said parents have been understanding.
“Our parents have been very good, making accommodations to bring (students) to school,” he said. “I appreciate their understanding during this hectic and unprecedented time.”
Carmichaels School District in Greene County also contracts with STA. The district’s transportation director Fred Morecraft said the district has not yet been met with a driver shortage.
“We’ve just been really lucky,” Morecraft said, noting Carmichaels is a smaller district than Albert Gallatin. “We’ve been pretty lucky with COVID cases and with our bus company. The core group of our bus drivers are from our community. We haven’t really faced any challenges.”
He added, laughing, “Knock on wood.”
Like Carmichaels, Fort Cherry School District hasn’t had to navigate the bus driver shortage since students returned to school after the New Year.
“We’ve been fortunate,” said Daniel Mayer, transportation coordinator. “I see it every day on the news. I feel bad for these other districts that are experiencing that.”
While Fort Cherry’s buses are running as usual, Mayer said the two contracting companies the district works with are each one driver away from being short-staffed, and the district has dealt with a driver shortage.
“We are at … bare bones. There might be one extra driver to do field trips … at each company,” Mayer said.
Earlier this school year, he said, the district was down one driver.
“We had to double-up runs.”
The shortage, thankfully, was not due to COVID-19, Mayer said.
Canon-McMillan School District, too, has had to combine bus routes this year, but fortunately is fully staffed, said Directory of Facilities & Transportation Jurdon Maier.
“Staffing continues to be the biggest challenge since the emergence of Covid,” he said in an email.
Weather this time of year is usually a factor in bussing, and Hutchinson said he is concerned about the forecast, and what impact snow might have on driver availability.
Again, he said, transportation is a day-to-day job and each district is doing its best to get kids to and from school safely.
“It’s tough because the community has kind of gone back to no masks. We’re still disinfecting buses every day, disinfecting between runs,” said Scott.
He said he’s concerned about the increasing number of COVID-19 cases in the region, noting many drivers are older, and safety of both students and drivers is top priority.
Albert Gallatin, too, is taking things one day at a time.
“I have to give credit to the community for being patient and understanding the situation,” Hutchinson said. “When you’re in it, you’re in it.”