SPECIAL REPORT
made it harder to recruit and retain drivers. In the School Transportation News survey, two-thirds of respondents noted “easier jobs available for same/ more money” as a continued challenge to hiring new school bus driver applicants. Turner said that three quarters of her district’s driv-
ers are over the age of 65, many of them having taken up the job after retiring from other professions. “I have a computer software engineer, a retired
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building project engineer, a retired post office employ- ee, UPS delivery driver, truck driver. I have people with serious degrees here,” she shared. “They don’t have to do this, but they want to give back to the community and have some kind of impact on young people.” But she said the stress on drivers, including stu-
dent behavior, means that it is rarely the rewarding experience drivers had hoped for. Media reports have chronicled how parents are more demanding than in past eras and more likely to side with their children rather than adult professionals—be they teachers, sports referees, or bus drivers—in disputes, some- times even invoking legal threats and violence. “We’re sitting ducks,” said Turner. “We’re strapped
into the seat in front of the bus. If you have an irate parent and you open those doors, it’s terrifying.”
Labor Issues The part-time nature of the job, lack of benefits,
and relatively low pay at many districts also fuels the driver shortage. Fifty-eight percent of 227 survey respondents cited low pay, 37 percent the lack of ben- efits and 53 percent the part-time schedule as reasons for the driver shortage. It is difficult—“impossible,” in Turner’s words—for
districts to find or approve the funds needed to bol- ster bus driver compensation. Many therefore see the revised CDL and more outreach as the most realistic ways to ease the driver shortage. Krapf Bus has hosted recruitment fairs that Mc- Glinchey said have yielded new job applicants. He said he’s hopeful that even as a part-time job, people will see school bus driving as a desirable and mean- ingful occupation. “It’s a great part-time position especially if you
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24 School Transportation News • JULY 2023
have children in the same school district,” he said. “The educational day doesn’t start without the yellow school bus.” Forster, likewise, said she hopes barriers can be
removed so drivers can appreciate the upsides. “It’s a very rewarding job for someone to do,” she
added. “The children on the bus become like your children.” ●
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