While all Cole County school districts have been able to get their regular bus routes covered, some school bus services have had trouble finding drivers for after-school transportation due to bus driver shortages and COVID-19 challenges.
Finding school bus drivers has been a longstanding problem for school districts nationwide, but it has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
First Student, the transportation service for the Jefferson City School District, is short eight bus drivers. It has been able to run the district's normal routes, but finding enough bus drivers for after-school activities has been a challenge, interim Chief Operating Officer Dawn Berhorst said Thursday at the Board of Education meeting.
Berhorst and Frank Underwood, the district's facilities and transportation director, have been working closely with First Student to consider alternative plans and look at how to advertise to friends and families of students, and "possibly even some employees if the schedule works out right," Berhorst said.
"In the afternoon is our biggest problem because there are activity buses running at the same time we're trying to run our afternoon routes," Berhorst said Thursday. "If we can find a grandpa that goes to all the games anyway and wants to drive the bus, get paid and watch his granddaughter or grandson play, that's always an option, and they would only have to do the activity shift."
Bus drivers need a commercial driver's license with passenger authorization.
"It's not something that's going to be fixed immediately, but we're really trying to target our winter and spring sports," Berhorst said. "We're also exploring options like 15-passenger vans for some of our smaller sports."
Durham School Services, which serves the Blair Oaks R-2 School District in Wardsville, Cole R-5 School District in Eugene and Cole R-1 School District in Russellville, is fully staffed, but it has had to rely on substitute bus drivers more due to illness and quarantines among drivers, said Dale Embry, safety training supervisor for Durham School Services.
Durham School Services hasn't had any problems getting regular routes covered for schools, but it has had some challenges finding people to cover routes for extracurricular activities. The company is always looking to hire more drivers in case a problem comes up and it needs a driver for a temporary spot, Embry said.
"We're just blessed," Embry said. "We've got a quite a few drivers who are willing to step up and take big trips."
Deb Schwaller, a Durham bus driver and the Cole R-5 School District's transportation director, has had the most challenging year so far trying to get routes covered, Superintendent Charley Burch said. However, while Schwaller has had to sub more and spend more time finding substitute drivers, she has been able to get all routes covered.
"It's just more of a challenge to get stuff covered and get people to come in," Burch said.
Cole R-1 Superintendent Perry Gorrell said the district's regular routes have been covered, but it can be a challenge to find substitute bus drivers, especially for extra trips. Many bus drivers are typically retired and are choosing to not enter the workforce because of COVID-19, Gorrell said.
"Bus driver shortages have been an issue for years now," Gorrell said. "It's nothing new, but it has increased."
Blair Oaks contracts with D&K Bus Services for after-school activities. Superintendent Jim Jones said the district has had no problem with getting drivers, though D&K and Durham are always looking to hire more substitute drivers.
There is a higher need for bus drivers in the spring because there are more field trips, so some grades at Blair Oaks have moved annual field trips to the fall to alleviate issues finding drivers.
"We know that we're very fortunate to be in the position that we're in this year, and we hope that continues," Jones said.