A school bus is used to promote openings for school bus drivers in a parking lot along North Pearl Street in Centralia last year.
School districts in Lewis County are grappling with the same problem plaguing districts around Washington state and the country — a shortage of school bus drivers.
On Thursday, the Toledo School District had to pivot all students to virtual learning because of a lack of substitute bus drivers to cover for the three drivers who were sick or had to handle family emergencies, Toledo Superintendent Chris Rust said.
Rust, who has been an educator for over three decades, including six years as Toledo’s superintendent, said this was the first time in his career the school wasn’t able to provide transportation to all students. He said that he isn’t surprised it reached this point because bus drivers have been scarce for the Toledo School District and many school districts for years now.
“This is a national situation, and it has been for a long time, probably 10 years. People don’t want to be school bus drivers, and I don’t know why. It’s a part-time job with benefits that pays over 20 bucks an hour,” he said.
Rust said the district has advertised the position in numerous ways but hasn’t had much interest.
The Centralia and Chehalis school districts participate in a Pupil Transportation Co-op, and both districts are operating with less-than-ideal bus driver staffing levels. Heather Pinkerton, director of business and operations for the Chehalis School District, said that it is not uncommon for mechanics or transportation directors to drive the school bus on days when a regular driver is out sick.
“It’s just not sustainable,” Pinkerton said.
Since the bus driver positions only pay 180 days out of the year, and drivers work odd hours driving kids early in the mornings and then later in the afternoon, it doesn’t work for everyone.
The job also requires a physical and a commercial diver license (CDL), which takes hours of training to acquire. Pinkerton said it would be much simpler for someone with a CDL to drive a commercial truck full-time rather than a school bus, especially amid the pandemic when there is a lack of consistency of in-person schooling.
“A lot of drivers do it for the love of the game, for the love of the kids and the camaraderie and social interactions. Driver retention is difficult … and when you throw COVID into the mix, not all of our drivers want to put themselves in a bus right now,” Pinkerton said.
The district also has bus drivers furloughed on Wednesdays since it is a virtual learning day for most students, aside from special education students. Since transportation is funded through the state and is based upon ridership, the schools do not have much control over the situation.
The Chehalis School District addressed the lack of school bus drivers in a newsletter to parents that went out last month and outlined a plan for “bundling bus routes” in an effort to transport more students with fewer bus drivers.
“This means that your student’s bus schedule might change, and transportation times may be extended. You will be contacted if there is a change to your student’s bus schedule, which may be the night before school or the morning of school, depending on the circumstances,” stated the Chehalis newsletter.
At the start of the 2020-21 school year, the Centralia School District introduced a two-tiered bus route — driving high school and middle school students earlier in the morning and afternoon followed by the elementary school students. The two-tiered system helps the district use fewer drivers while allowing them to work more hours, Centralia Superintendent Dr. Lisa Grant said.
“I know we’re actively recruiting and working on some strategies to get some other drivers,” Grant said. “I don’t think people are always aware of school bus-driving as an option.”
Most school districts are actively recruiting bus drivers. Individuals interested in the position can contact Toledo School District Transportation Supervisor Don Hall at dhall@toledoschools.us or Centralia/Chehalis’ Director of Transportation Gibb Kingsley at gkingsley@centraliaschools.org.
