Salt Lake City School District among those across the country facing school bus driver shortages
As the new school year begins, the Salt Lake City School District informed parents on Monday afternoon of a districtwide school bus driver shortage.
Ken Martinez, Salt Lake City School District transportation director, said in an email that the shortage might result in delays to pick-up and drop-off times.
In the midst of the district’s frantic hiring efforts, Martinez pleaded with parents to remain patient and to help fill the gap by sending interested parties their way for bus driving jobs.
The Salt Lake driver shortage isn’t unique; drivers and administrators across the country struggle to fill the job.
What caused the school bus driver shortage?
The demands on school bus drivers combined with lackluster pay drive people away from and out of the job.
Not only do bus drivers transport students, they are responsible for student safety. What’s more, getting into the job requires a commercial driver’s license, various certifications and background checks.
“Then there are the quirks of the job — the split-shift schedule, starting before dawn and sometimes ending after dark — and its relatively low pay,” USA Today writes.
Regarding pay, many drivers work part-time, meaning they aren’t making anywhere near the mean annual wage of $42,400, per the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
USA Today released an analysis of news coverage and local statistics that indicated every state experienced at least one major school bus driver shortage this year.
FOX Business reported that the shortage could be traced back even further than that, by over a decade.
“Bus drivers were often hit first and the hardest during financial challenges,” Carol Baaki Diglio, the former assistant superintendent of human resources for the Novi Community School District and Oak Park School District in Michigan, told FOX Business of the shortage in 2008.
A HopSkipDrive survey of school transportation and administration leaders also cites “COVID-19 concerns” as a reason for driver shortages across the country.
School districts across the country are facing similar plights.
Philadelphia to pay parents up to $300 per month to drive their kids to school
According to Newsweek, the School District of Philadelphia is utilizing a Parent Flat Rate Program to manage students’ school commute amid the bus driver shortage.
Under this program, parents can drive their children to and from school instead of using the school bus system in exchange for $300 per month, or $150 for parents who can only opt out of the morning bus assignment.
Enrollment began in June to prepare for the Sept. 5 start to the academic term.
Philadelphia still has 105 driver positions open, with an increased starting salary of $45,000 for full-time drivers and $23,000 for part-time drivers, per FOX 29.
Mechanical and office staff to drive bus routes, bus companies offer bonuses, and route changes galore in Wisconsin
Ahead of its post-Labor Day start, Wisconsin schools are preparing to begin the school year with inventive solutions to their bus driver shortage.
Bus company Lamers is offering bonuses to new hires to encourage people to apply for driving positions.
Jim Gamble, manager of the Lamers West De Pere bus depot, told FOX 11 News, “We’re probably in better shape this year than we have been the past couple of years, but there’s still a lot of holes to fill. We’re still going to have mechanical staff and office staff out driving, unfortunately.”
Gamble added that he knows other locations have had to combine routes or change schedules to get kids to and from school on time, though bus rides for extracurricular activities haven’t taken first priority.
The West De Pere High School community has taken the shortage in stride, with members and relatives jumping in to make students’ commutes possible.
Principal Justinn Heraly said of the community undertaking, “We try to get the word out to our coaches and anybody else that’s interested it’s a great opportunity to see the kids and service the community any way that they can.”
Fairfax County, Virginia, schools experience 170+ delays on first day of school
One Fairfax County middle schooler told WUSA9, “I’m excited for the first day of school but then (the bus) doesn’t come.”
That student wasn’t the only one to experience a delay on their first day, with countless others on over 170 routes seeing delays of 10-45 minutes, WUSA9 reported. On Tuesday morning, the second day of school, 25 buses saw delays.
Paul D’Andrade, FCPS’s assistant director for transportation services, said the district is working to address the driver shortage through higher wages and lowering the minimum age to become a bus driver to 19.
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