![]() Larry Hogan created a “Bus Drivers’ Day at the MVA” to streamline appointment scheduling for bus driver trainees. Kathy Hochul is targeting the onerous licensing process, the School District of Philadelphia is paying parents to drive their kids and Maryland Gov. ![]() Charlie Baker activated the National Guard, New York Gov. Some drivers quit when mask and vaccine mandates were issued by state and federal leaders.Īcross the country, states and school districts are frantically trying to find solutions to the shortage - Massachusetts Gov. Now, with the Delta variant raging across the country, drivers are even more reluctant to board an enclosed vehicle with 50 potentially-unvaccinated kids who may or may not abide by mask mandates. Even before the pandemic, many districts struggled to contract with companies as drivers with Commercial Drivers Licenses were being lured away to jobs with higher pay, better benefits and more regular hours. To be sure, bus driver shortages are nothing new. The shortage of drivers is just one more obstacle schools and parents have faced this school year in addition to mask mandates, structural building issues and learning loss brought about by the pandemic, as well as flooding from the remnants of Hurricane Ida. We say they bleed yellow.But a review of local news stories, district websites and parent Facebook groups reveals kids in Glassboro, Camden, Paterson, Deptford, Jersey City, Wayne, Toms River and dozens of other districts have been left waiting for hours or were never picked up at all. "There's a segment that just love doing what they do. In the meantime, Macysyn says, schools and private school-bus contractors will continue to try to recruit drivers who are civic minded and appreciate the part-time hours and spending time with children. Macysyn says that while measures such as distancing and opening windows seem to be pretty effective, "we certainly understand if folks have those concerns," especially if they have risk factors.Ĭhicago's mayor, Lori Lightfoot, is reportedly talking to ride-share companies like Lyft or Uber, or even paying parents to drive their own children to school. School buses are full of children, and children under 12 can't yet be vaccinated against COVID-19. ![]() A second factor in the shortage, Macysyn pointed out, is that in many places over the past year and a half, departments of motor vehicles were closed or had limited operations, so people couldn't get their road tests or update their qualifications.Ī third concern cited was safety. ( reports the median school bus driver earns $35,421 per year, which varies by region.)īrand-new bus drivers can't be hired on the spot like retail or fast-food workers they need commercial driver's licenses. Respondents to the survey were most likely to say that the pay they were able to offer was a major factor affecting their ability to recruit drivers. Many drivers were furloughed during the COVID-19 school closures in 2020, while others took the chance to retire. He says there are many reasons for the shortage. "In previous years, we've seen regionalized driver shortages, but nothing to the extent that we're seeing today." "This back-to-school period is nothing like the previous periods we've seen," he told NPR. The move left some 2,100 students, a little less than half of them in special education, without a way to get to school.Īnd in Pittsburgh, the public schools notified families that they are short almost 650 bus seats for the first day of school on Friday.Ĭurt Macysyn is executive director of the National School Transportation Association, which conducted the survey with two other trade associations. In Chicago this week, 70 bus drivers, about 10% of the workforce, abruptly quit over the district's new COVID-19 vaccine mandate, according to WBEZ's Sarah Karp. In a new nationwide survey, half of student-transportation coordinators described their school bus driver shortages as either "severe" or "desperate." Now, in many places, there is a last-mile problem - quite literally. ![]() So far this fall, children heading back to school have faced many obstacles: battles over masks, vaccines, delta-variant surge fears and mental health needs. ![]()
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