Trey Studstill, the senior exec-
utive director of transportation for Paulding County School District in the fast-growing northwest suburb of Atlanta, Georgia noted he is not short any monitors. “As a matter of fact, with 104
monitors at the moment, we’re putting a big push on to hire even more,” he relayed last month “Our special needs routes are fully staffed, and we would never delete monitor positions as a cost cutting measure. “I’ve been doing this for over
25 years and there are good days and bad days for attendance, with certain times of the year worse than others,” Studstill continued. “A little over a year ago, 50 of our monitor positions became dedicated to general education runs. And we could use more, so as budget money frees up, we’ll continue to expand that program. A monitor truly does play a big part in driver satisfaction when they have an extra adult on board to deal with some of the more challenging students.” As for monitor or driver reten-
tion, Studstill noted, “Like with any profession, there are always people who find that their skill set doesn’t serve their job and they’ll admit that they aren’t cut out for it. But for the most part, that’s the exception rather than the rule.” Kimberly Ellis, transportation
director of the nearby Marietta City School District, said that her operation absolutely will use available substitute monitors on regular education routes, when attendance allows it. “We will put them on a reg-
57% of transportation directors/supervisors said they are currently short school bus monitors.
(Out of 243 responses to a recent STN magazine reader survey.)
How many monitors are you short?
80% 1 to 5 monitors 10% 6 to 10 monitors 4% 11 to 15 monitors 4% 21+ monitors 2% 16 to 20 monitors (Out 137 responses.)
How many routes have school bus monitors assigned?
41% 5 or less routes
19% between 6 and 10 routes
18% over 21 of our routes
15% between 11 and 15 routes
7% between 16 and 20 routes (Out of 225 responses.)
ular education route when there is a new driver so that [the] driver can concentrate on their driving, or when an extra hand with student management is necessary on a tougher route,” she said. “We find that the kids are very responsive to the monitors as well, which is a big plus.” Both Georgia leaders said
that monitors are applying for jobs from word of mouth, although online job postings and job fairs are also bringing in new hires. “We even have a waiting list
of people who want to work for us. We currently have 17 monitor positions with six substitutes,” said Ellis. Alternate transportation
company EverDriven says it has seen a 20-percent increase in trips that need monitors from year to year. “Overall, our rate of trips
is growing at just over 16 percent per year. As far as the number of students that require a monitor, that has grown over 25 percent, while the growth rate of overall students is 22 percent,” said company CEO Mitch Bowl- ing. “To put those numbers in context, the need for moni- tors is on the upswing.” EverDriven has over 6,000
contracted drivers nation- wide, and while not every vehicle has an extra adult monitor on board, one is always on duty with students who require one via their Individualized Education Program.
Read about the legal case of a nonverbal girl with autism who was repeatedly beaten by another student with emotional disturbances during the school bus ride at
stnonline.com/go/ed.
www.stnonline.com 27
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