“Causes of jackknifing does
not say ‘as applicable,’” Cassell observed. “I think FMCSA wants trainers to make a really good effort in teaching, so I think what a small operation should do is look at the 303 practices and teach the new ones you don’t already.” In Wyoming, Keith Chrans is not
only the director of transportation for Campbell County School District but also president of the Wyoming State Pupil Transportation Associ- ation. “I think that the ELDT rules, as far as school districts are con- cerned, are really a formalization of what we already do,” he noted. “Most districts have a very detailed training program because we don’t want drivers out there who aren’t fully trained. Now, the entry-level training has been redefined so that you can’t just train applicants to a school bus, they have to be trained to the other types of Class B.” Chrans said that Wyoming’s
state committee recently reviewed the new ELDT requirements and discovered that the new pieces that were added only amounted to about 10-percent of the material. “We already had most of those
details in place,” Chrans said. “We plugged them back into our train- ing programs.”
Would School Bus Only License Attract More Applicants? But despite FMCSA’s intent, the school bus industry doesn’t want its would-be or current drivers for that matter leaving for other modes of transportation. Perhaps one answer is making the licensing process eas- ier and faster by creating a separate school bus license. Changing that law is a federal matter that could take years, but there are ways that states can speed up the process and encourage candidates to get behind the wheel.
In September, Rep. Joe Morelle
of New York wrote Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg asking him to do just
that.Morelle’s letter specifically suggested waiving the current CDL requirements for school bus drivers to help ease the driver shortages and urged the pursuit of a new school bus specific license that would waive the repair-oriented vehicle inspection requirements. When asked about his opinion
of a school bus specific license, Chrans in Wyoming said he doesn’t see it as a bad idea. “But it’s tailored so closely to a Class B that there wouldn’t be much difference. I could see streamlining the pro- cess by incorporating the testing so you wouldn’t need a passenger endorsement, air brake endorse- ment, it would be all inclusive to that license. As long as we don’t lose the safety of training to the type of vehicle that we’re driving.” He added that a positive aspect
of a school bus specific license is it may deter applicants who are cost- ing the district thousands of dollars in training only to up and leave for another employer once they receive their Class B license. Dave Christopher, president of
the New York Association for Pupil Transportation (NYAPT), noted that agencies are putting their minds together and stepping up to the challenge of recruiting new school bus drivers. “Student management is defi-
nitely part of the reason why people aren’t applying, along with the fact that it is much easier to get other driving jobs with Amazon, Uber, or UPS, where they can make more money and not worry about student discipline issues,” Christopher said. “Driving students has a significantly higher level of responsibility. “I do think the pandemic has
caused many people to realize the importance of this job in the
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