Why School Districts Can’t Get Your Child to School Anymore!

School Bus Panic!

Why School Districts Can’t Get Your Child to School Anymore!

This labor day comes at a moment when unions and workers are flexing their power. The writers strike is entering its fourth month while actors are striking too.

In two weeks autoworkers may very well take to the picket line. Ups driver’s ratified and historic contract this summer. Employees still face significant battles and employers are still coping with shortages of workers.

In school district across the country many are facing a shortage of bus drivers. Allie Rogan takes a closer look. Alana and her husband were gearing up for the school year in charlottesville, Virginia they learned their middle sons bus route was canceled.

We were aware they had been struggling and we received notice students were not guaranteed to have a bus that would take them to their schools but we did not actually know for sure there was a problem until we received an email about two weeks before school started saying one of my children would not be bused to his school.

So you are like doing the mental calculations and the gymnastics being like — how can I make of this work with our family now? A recent usa today analysis found at least one instance of a major school bus shortage in in every state in the U.S.

Scheduled vs ACTUAL Pickup Times

Joanna is the CEO of hop skip drive, an organization that helps districts access supplemental transportation for students. We have had a school bus driver shortage for over a decade. That shortage was exacerbated by covid with a large number of drivers retiring early and we are just not finding enough people in the pool that want to be school draw — school bus drivers for districts to higher the number of drivers they need.
She says more is at stake for students than many realize. Access to transportation is really access to education. Across the country we are also seeing an increase in chronic absenteeism to it is really impacting our ability to get kids to school which affects learning outcomes, affects education but also affects stress levels that families are feeling every day.
Laura has been a school bus driver for 18 years in Washington state. I don’t really have the time to get to know any of the students like I used to. It is more good morning kind of smile and nod when they get on the bus and then say goodbye at the school. The issue is in part due to low pay.

The average bus driver in the U.S. Makes $41,270 per year. We are in the middle of several other districts that are in the same situation of drivers shortages. It really hurt us that two of our neighboring districts pay significantly more and offered hiring bonuses so we lost 10 drivers to another district just for that reason.

The dire situation is requiring districts and parents to outsource. In Philadelphia a pandemic program paying parents a stipend to do the driving is still in effect.

Each family is paid $300 a month. That is per household if they are willing to take their children to school and pick them up. If they are not willing to pick up their students in the afternoon, they are paid $150 a month.

Back in Charlottesville, Alana took matters into her own hands in a vehicle which the family already owned. I drive a 15 passenger van. I did start out talking to other moms to find out if we could carpool but the problem is they did not have enough room in their cars. And so the wall to middle school shuttle idea was hatched.

Easy To Read Dashboards Of Important Driver Metrics

Smith no offers rides to and from her son’s middle school for five dollars each way. My dream would be the higher end of the bus driver next week and say I’m glad I could help out for a couple weeks and I go back to doing all the other things I normally do. From on this issue I’m joined by Amalia.

She is the CEO and executive director of the national association for pupil transportation. Thank you for joining us.

There was a bus driver shortage last year and the situation this year is the same if not worse. Why is that?

I do think it is acute. It has been going on for at least 10 years before the pandemic. During the pandemic, there was a great number of retirements as well as bus drivers are hourly employees.

While during the pandemic, many school districts use their transportation people to deliver free and reduced lunch, curriculum, even mobile hotspots.

An awful lot of drivers did not get hours during the pandemic so they would be looking at other areas. Also the pay for drivers. In many instances it is not — it does not support a lifestyle they might need. It is not necessarily competitive today. You previously noted some drivers got drums with major producers like Amazon. As that led to what we are seeing today?

If you look around the country it not matter where you go. Everyone is hiring whether it is Amazon or ups or any of them. Our school districts or TSA. We have a work shortage in America. I think in our transportation industry, a lot of our folks found they were able to get jobs with guaranteed numbers of hours, guaranteed benefits and the difference between driving a truck load of packages and driving an iconic school bus, not the safest vehicles on the road today for of children is a pretty big stretch and I have to tell you those packages don’t really talk back to you at times and they are pretty easy to handle.

To that point school bus drivers are such an important part of a child’s day. They get to know the children. They can flag when something seems amiss with the children. Plus as we have come to learn, there are rigorous certifications school bus drivers must meet.

So the fact there are the shortages, are school district having to compromise for who they hire for these incredibly important and build positions? — And skilled positions?

Track Late/On Time and Early Arrivals in Real Time

I don’t know of any districts compromising the requirements because the requirements are very spelled out in terms of licensure, experience, background checks. One of the ways to solve the issue is not to change or lessen the requirements for school bus drivers.

The way we need to address this issue is we need to look at all the elements of it, make sure drivers are getting guaranteed numbers of hours, make sure they have a fringe benefit package that is competitive. Make sure they have training in areas.

Today at a bus stop you don’t know who is going to be there other than the children you are picking up so they need extra assistance in de-escalation and professional development.

You have been monitoring the issue closely. What are some of the solutions you see individual school districts implementing that have worked?

This is a year-round issue and right now because of issues that have popped up in the news, we are all focused on it. This is a year-round issue.

The most successful districts do recruit, train and retain all year long looking at ways to make sure they are successful. They have done work to make sure they are competitive in their salary and fringe benefit. I know in Virginia one school district went and got extra funding to make sure they could offer their drivers better pay.

In terms of the training, there is a school district in Texas. Talk about eggs interviews. They do what is called stay interviews where the interview drivers and find out what makes you want to be a bus driver and they’re able to be there. The best people to recruit bus drivers are directors of transportation.

Trainers, routers, mechanics and bus drivers. The most successful district use a variety of tools, using those folks to do it. Even though this is a national issue, there is not a national answer to this issue. It has to be done district by district and state by state.

That means school boards and superintendents need to make school strength — school transportation a priority and I know they have so many competing priorities but getting kids to school safely and efficiently has to be at the top of our list.

The national association for pupil transportation. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you for inviting me to be a part of it. ♪♪

About Bytecurve

Founded in 2018 by GP Singh after many years on the frontline of student transportation operations with one of the country’s largest private student transportation providers, Bytecruve is designed as the 360 view of operations.

By blending routing and GPS fleet tracking data, and adding a payroll capability as well as mobile app for two-ways communications between dispatch and drivers, Bytecurve 360 has created a new category for student transportation excellence: the dispatch command center.

“We believe many school bus operators still don’t appreciate all the potential improvments they can deliver by taking two powerful yet independent systems and merging them into a new layer of visibility and action,” Singh said. “We’re integrated with all the major providers of routing systems and GPS fleet tracking so virtually any school district with both systems can take advantage of our transformative technology.”

Trusted by dozens of districts across North America, more than 40,000 school bus rely on Bytecurve technology to improve their efficiency and safety.

“I know from first hand experience what school bus fleet leaders need to perform at their best, and we work tirelessly on our product and with our customers to deliver this experience so they can know they are investing in the safest and most efficient fleet.”