Bemidji Area Schools navigates bus driver shortage amidst nationwide trend
Dec. 2—BEMIDJI — For transportation service coordinator Jeremy Jensen, driving a bus for
Bemidji Area Schools
is not just an opportunity to transport the district's greatest commodity.
In the midst of ongoing efforts to recruit more bus drivers to fill four open routes, Jensen substitutes as a driver and has a chance to make an impact from the driver's seat.
"If you want to have a sense of accomplishment or a job that means something, you don't have to go any further than the route I drove the other day," Jensen recalled in late November.
Jensen hadn't driven a particular route in a week, but upon his return, he was met with a warm embrace by a young student to welcome him back.
"As soon as he got on the bus, he gave me a hug and said, 'I knew you were coming back. I missed you.' Now, he gives me a hug every day," Jensen said. "The school bus is an extension of the classroom, so you have an opportunity as a bus driver to shape these kids and help them grow."
Jensen isn't the only one who has had to step in to help out the district's transportation fleet.
"All of our transportation managers, at some point, are driving," Superintendent Jeremy Olson said. "Our people are really stepping up and are driving on either a daily basis or pretty darn close."
As it turns out, Olson himself has also driven on and off since the beginning of this school year for Bemidji Area Schools. His previous positions in Crookston, Henning and Underwood, Minn., faced similar driver shortages that left him no choice but to earn his CDL and drive a bus for those districts, as well.
"We were getting to the point where we were going to have to cancel trips for sports and other activities," Olson detailed. "We started to talk and we had a couple of board members get their (CDL) licenses. We had a bunch of people who went through it together and tried to get licensed to try to prevent what we're unfortunately facing more and more each year."
As it stands currently, the district operates 64 routes that transport students to and from 20 sites including 11 public schools, four charter schools, four private schools and the Northwestern Minnesota Juvenile Center.
Along with the current transportation fleet, fewer than 10 substitute drivers are on call on any given day.
"We would like to have 10 to 15 substitutes," Jensen noted, "and we would like to be able to have all of our routes filled."
While the substitute pool proves valuable to fill any of the four open routes, challenges arise whenever a substitute is unable to fill in. Additionally, absences from full-time bus drivers can exacerbate the issue.
"Let's just say we have half a dozen substitutes," Olson said. "You're using four of them right off the bat (to fill the four open routes), so you have two left. Your margins are very slim."
"And you don't take into account any long-term absences with drivers who are out for surgeries or anything else," Jensen added. "Our workforce is getting older. They require more time off, so those routes have to be filled on a daily basis — not only our open routes, but we have to fill in for our drivers that require time off."
In part, Olson and Jensen view the continued shortage as a result of stricter requirements for drivers.
"We've seen the bus driver shortage coming for the last decade and what we've seen over time is the requirements becoming more and more stringent on drivers, which therefore reduces the pool," Olson said. "When we already have a workforce issue across this country, we now have complicated that by making it more difficult to get a license."
Interested bus drivers must apply for a position on the district website, undergo an interview and a background check, and complete fingerprinting. If an applicant doesn't possess a CDL, they must study a training manual before taking four tests: a general, passenger, school bus endorsement and an air brake test.
"Once those tests are passed, we can get you into the bus garage to train you on how to drive a bus and how to do your pre-trip inspection," Jensen detailed. "After two weeks, we then schedule you to test for your CDL."
Keeping in mind varying schedules, Jensen emphasized the district's flexibility when it comes to its paid training process.
"Two weeks is not always feasible for people, so it can be a longer process which sometimes turns people away," Jensen added, "but we can streamline it based on the availability of the applicant."
Another deterrent includes intimidation of driving a large vehicle, which Olson admitted to prior to getting behind the wheel.
"I was not comfortable, but I got my license because we didn't have any other options," he said. "I was surprised at how easy driving a bus was because I am not one of those people who is going to jump into a semi and drive it."
The state of Minnesota mandates the district to provide transportation as well as offer it as an option to charter and private schools within district boundaries.
Yearly miles transported throughout the district total 1.2 million. The district spans 825 square miles — an area that equates to two-thirds the size of Rhode Island — presenting its own challenges since the district earns transportation revenue on a per-pupil basis rather than by land mass.
This causes the district to cross-subsidize roughly $1 million a year since its expenditures exceed its revenue, a cost that has no financial effect on private or charter schools.
"Whether you have 4,600 students in 825 square miles or 4,600 students in 60 square miles, there's no difference in payment to the individual school district," Olson said. "We've been trying to work on that with the legislature and we've been able to get some excess transportation dollars."
Despite recruitment efforts, leads have proved minimal.
If the district doesn't secure more drivers or the fleet decreases, the district could look into type III transportation for 10 passengers or fewer, including large SUVs and other smaller vehicles. This option would be limited, Olson noted, as the district only has so many of these vehicles and are not considered as safe as buses.
Therefore, the district would have one feasible option: to cancel routes.
"That's why we're trying to work so hard in recruitment because we don't want to get in a situation where we're doing that," Olson explained. "A bus driving kids to school is the safest mode of transportation — even safer than parents driving — and we want to stay in that direction."
Jensen has noticed other districts switching back and forth on a weekly basis between providing transportation to one section of a district while the other section provides its own transportation, namely by parents driving their children to school.
"We definitely don't want to see that here in Bemidji," Jensen said. "The big challenge is we need more drivers."
Anyone interested in driving a bus, even on a part-time basis, is encouraged to reach out to the district.
"If people don't want to commit to an everyday position, we have that. It would help us tremendously if we had a larger sub pool," Jensen said. "A lot of folks who initially start as subs may be uncertain about their choice, but once you get behind the wheel of that bus, you see the difference that you're making."
"Sometimes, people think that they have to come to us with a license in hand, but we don't need that," Olson said. "We just need someone who is willing to learn, to be safe and we can work with them to get their license."
Jensen noted that some of the district's current drivers have been with the district for 30-plus years and one driver is in her 80s.
"That says a lot about the job. As a bus driver, when you stick to a route you have a student for generations. You're hauling a student and all of a sudden you're hauling that student's child," he left off. "It becomes very personal and very rewarding."
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