place environment, and professional development training, as well as technological advancements. “The medical benefit has been the one that we hear the most about when we when we interview folks,” he explained. “And that’s a recent change for Rockbridge County. There was a time [when] we didn’t offer a ben- efits package, unless you worked a certain number of hours. And now we’re able to offer benefits to anyone that’s willing to come to work for us. And so, offering the medical [insurance] is definitely a huge draw when it comes to folks that are looking for work, at least in our area, they’re not going to come and work for you with- out the medical benefit.” Walters added that his district is one of the few coun-
ties that has all of its full-time routes covered. However, there aren’t enough substitute drivers to cover when drivers call out due to illness or doctor appointments. He noted that athletic trips are also hard to cover as it takes away a driver to cover an assigned route. “We are constantly working to build our pool of sub-
stitutes. … Majority of our folks are already retired from other positions and are just driving to have the extra income,” he said. “And they can retire and stop driving at any time, and we could easily lose 50 percent of our fleet. There’s no pipeline for having folks in line waiting to replace them. And in Virginia, it takes us a good two to three months if not longer to train the driver. So, when you do have openings and you start a class, you’re still two to three months out from actually getting that person behind the wheel of a school bus to take a route.” He added his staff is working to keep the queue of
applicants full. But he said because most districts are short anywhere from 15 to 30 drivers, there is always the possibility that Rockbridge’s newly trained drivers could leave because he can only initially offer substitute routes. “They can easily go to another county that neighbors us and work right away on a full-time route. They may come back to us when we do have an opening because it’s closer to home, but there’s no guarantee,” he added. “It makes us very nervous that we could lose 50 percent of our drivers just to their age and if they’re ready to actually stop working, we don’t have folks waiting to take those spots.” Walters noted that most districts in surrounding
areas are in a “dire need of drivers.” He said that districts have had to cancel certain routes for the day due to not enough drivers being able to fill in. While he added that Rockbridge County has never had to do that, they have come close with drivers out due to COVID-19 and man- datory quarantine policies. He said he see’s canceling routes as the new normal
for districts not being able to get school bus drivers in seats. “We don’t want to do that, folks depend on trans- portation to get to and from school,” he said. Unfortunately for Washoe County School District in
Reno, Nevada, cutting back on routes was the only way to address the school bus driver shortage. The district was short 88 drivers. Announced last month, Washoe County had to cut back on its bus service for general education students on a rotating weekly schedule based upon their area. These students might have 14 to 18 days without bus service for the remainder of the 2021-2022 school year.
Top Benefits Offered to Transportation Staff:
84% Paid Sick Leave 72% Retirement pension 71% Medical insurance
66% Competitive wages relative to neighboring school districts/companies 62% Overtime pay 60% Dental insurance
58 School Transportation News • MARCH 2022
53% Vision insurance 26% Paid vacation leave 25% Bonuses
14% Other (none, paid holidays, life insurance, etc.)
(Out of 163 responses. Total does not equal 100, multiple answers allowed.)
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