tical challenges that can prevent people from working in transportation. For example, drivers and monitors can bring their children to work and have them ride the bus. That can reduce childcare expenses for employees and make the job more accessible to parents with young children. The district also has both full-time and part- time opportunities, offering flexibility for people who may not be looking for a traditional full-time schedule. Maryland’s Carroll County also encourages parents to
consider taking on roles as drivers. As an enticement, they are permitted to transport their own children. Email messages to parents tout the advantages of “built-in day- care” while also urging them to share employment info with anyone who might be interested. The reality is that recruiting drivers takes work, noted
long-time student transportation expert Richard “Dick” Fischer. “You can’t wait for drivers to come to you,” he asserted. “You need to go to them.” In Fischer’s experience, simple measures such as distributing flyers at Wal-Mart can bring results. Other places he suggested for finding drivers include local
businesses, libraries, churches, senior centers and com- munity clubs as well as online community pages and district websites. Additional possibilities include school employees who want extra income as well as referrals from current drivers.
Managing Proactively From the earliest steps of recruitment to the intricacies
of training and testing, proactive management can bring promising results. Arizona’s Gustafson stressed the value of knowing the
certification process from beginning to end and actively managing candidates through every step. “Don’t simply hand a new employee a checklist and expect them to navigate the process on their own,” she said. “Assign someone to track where each trainee is in the process, what requirement comes next, and whether anything is holding them up.” She also encouraged transportation leaders to main-
tain strong working relationships with state agencies, testing providers, HR departments, medical providers
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38 School Transportation News • OCTOBER 2026
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