Michigan schools grappling with lack of bus drivers, support staff

As children return to Michigan classrooms in August and September, the school districts that serve them continue to seek ways to keep buildings staffed.

Be it bus drivers, substitute teachers or classroom aides, many districts around the state are opening the year with unfilled job postings.

In St. Joseph County, along the Michigan-Indiana border, a meeting of superintendents earlier this month revealed nearly 100 open educator positions.

As of Aug. 9, there were 95 openings among teachers, instructional aides and other positions across the county, which includes nine school districts serving just under 10,000 students.

St. Joseph County Intermediate School District Superintendent Teresa Belote noted in an Aug. 22 meeting that the ISD was looking to fill 30 positions.

Holland Public Schools in Ottawa County, which opened the year Aug. 24, is planning on holding a hiring event Wednesday, Sept. 7, to fill several openings across the district. The event will be from 9-11:30 a.m. and 1-4 p.m. at the HPS administration building and will feature “on the spot hiring.”

Open positions include instructional assistants, bus drivers, substitute teachers, substitute secretaries and food service.

Northern Michigan school administrators are working hard to avoid canceling bus routes in the midst of a statewide bus driver shortage.

Charlevoix Public School Superintendent Michael Ritter sent a letter out to families in late July, noting the school board was taking action after failing to acquire enough drivers to offer a single bus run in the 2022-23 school year.

“In an attempt to acquire nine regular route drivers for fall, we offered a single run bonus and increased the base pay rate, which together equated to $34 per hour for a single bus run,” Ritter wrote. “Despite these efforts and making phone calls to all current and prospective drivers....we are still two bus drivers short of being able to offer a single run for this fall.”

The result for Charlevoix students is a dual bus route which consists of two separate runs — one for the middle/high school and one for the elementary school — and schools starting and ending at different times of the day.

Cheboygan Area Schools Superintendent Paul Clark also expressed problems with filling bus driver positions. Clark is using some of the school district’s custodial staff as drivers this year, as is the East Jordan Public School District, according to Superintendent Matt Stevenson.

Stevenson said, although all his driver spots are currently full, the future of his driving team concerns him.

“We are super lucky with our current team, but concerned about the next generation,” he said. “Right now, we are having a problem finding substitute drivers.”

At Holland Public Schools, the district is in a better position than last school year, but not yet out of the woods. During the start of the 2021-22 year, HPS canceled routes on a daily basis due to a lack of drivers.

More:Holland was in need of bus drivers this school year. This teacher stepped in to help

More:'Not going to be fixed overnight' Holland Schools dealing with bus driver shortage

This year, the district has worked out a way to cover its routes, but doesn’t have much leeway if a driver goes down.

“We’re in a spot where if we have drivers get sick or anything like that, we could possibly have to cancel routes,” said HPS Superintendent Nick Cassidy. “We have people running multiple routes, we’re going to experience some delays. We are working on getting more drivers in.”

Cassidy added that if he “had a gameball to give” for the first day of school, it would go to the HPS transportation department. He also asks that parents give the district grace as they continue to work through the situation.

“We need parents to give our drivers grace and know that we are doing everything we can to provide transportation,” he said. “We are dedicated and committed to making sure kids have a reliable and safe way to get to school.”

Districts around Holland held unique hiring events during the summer to attract drivers. Both West Ottawa and Fennville held events where prospective drivers could come in and test drive a bus and get more information about employment.

“I think a lot of people are apprehensive of even thinking this would be a career step because of the size of the vehicle,” said Paul Wegmeyer, director of transportation at West Ottawa. “Today's school bus is so driver friendly. We wanted to create an opportunity where anybody who had any thoughts (about driving a bus) could come and give it a try.”

More:West Ottawa event brings new approach to finding bus drivers

SubscribeReceive unlimited digital access to your local news coverage

Belote in St. Joseph told her board of education several things have factored into the struggle to find help, and that the issue persists statewide.

“Some of the research will tell us that people don’t feel supported and respected in the way that they did previously,” she said. “There’s a lot of politics that then lead (to) them feeling disenfranchised or unappreciated.

“Certainly, money always plays into that, but those were not the primary reasons that people cited leaving education. It was a lack of respect or maybe appreciation with the heaviness of the job; worrying about kids. It takes a toll on them when they worry about whether they have food or a place to live or family supports.”

The teacher shortage has been a topic of discussion in education for several years, and grew worse during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Michigan schools collectively lost 721 teachers in the fall of 2020 — according to a 2021 report from Michigan State University — just after the COVID-19 pandemic began. The 0.9 percent drop in active teachers marked the third-largest decrease over the last decade.

More:Holland Public Schools, Hope College partnering for teacher prep program

More:Whitmer budget proposal calls for boosting education investments to retain school workers

Initiatives are being established across the state to address the lack of teachers. Holland announced a partnership with Hope College earlier this year to begin a teacher prep program to accelerate the path to an education degree for prospective teachers.

Michigan’s budget for the 2022-23 fiscal year also includes funding for several teacher-focused initiatives. The budget includes $25 million to offset tuition costs of up to $10,000 each for students earning their initial teacher certification to teach at public or private schools.

It also funds $9,600-per-semester stipends for student teachers, and "grow-your-own" programs that help districts put support staff on paths to becoming educators.

— Contact Mitchell Boatman at mboatman@hollandsentinel.com. Contact Annie Doyle at adoyle@charlevoixcourier.com. Contact Michelle Patrick at mpatrick@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Michigan schools seeing driver, staffing shortages as new year begins