The morning bus ride to school is an ordinary event for students in the York County School Division, but school officials say 2014 has been anything but ordinary for the division’s transportation department.
Interim Superintendent Carl James noted at the Aug. 25 meeting of the YCSD School Board the division was 12 to 14 drivers short of its 2014-2015 quota. James said the district was in the process of training new drivers, but those additions would not cover the shortage.
The school division’s goal for 2014-15 is to have 131 contracted drivers and a 12 to 15 percent pool of substitute drivers to cover its 133 daily bus routes. It currently has 118 contracted drivers — four of whom are out on long-term leave — and 13 substitute drivers completing routes every day.
Six substitute drivers, who would normally work a part-time schedule, are working daily and are scheduled to become contracted drivers by the end of the month. Two other veteran substitute drivers and five newly-trained substitute drivers are working every day. That accounts for 128 drivers working full-time schedules to cover the 133 routes.
To advertise the open positions, YCSD set up a “banner bus,” a school bus covered by a banner that reads in capital letters, “WANTED: SCHOOL BUS OPERATORS.”
YCSD employs two kinds of bus drivers: contracted drivers and substitute drivers. Contracted drivers cover permanent routes on regular schedules. They are contracted to drive for 180 school days, plus a two-day paid training period, and receive benefits. Substitute drivers work more flexible schedules, and do not necessarily have assigned routes. All newly hired drivers begin as substitutes, but they can be promoted to contracted status.
Nearly a month later, the YCSD banner bus is still on display, and it is not the only one. School districts nationwide, including YCSD and Williamsburg-James City County Schools, are setting up banner buses in an attempt to fill their open driver positions.
For some, the shortage is a crisis. School Bus Fleet Magazine, a trade publication for school transportation, recently covered the issue. The magazine annually ranks the “Top 100 School District Fleets” based on the number of bus routes. With this year’s edition, the magazine asked administrators in those 100 districts nationwide to “rate their degree of school bus driver shortage.”
More than two-thirds of administrators responded the shortage in their own district was at least “moderate.” One-quarter said it was “severe.” In the previous year’s survey, 13 percent reported a severe shortage and no districts indicated a “desperate” one. In total, nearly 90 percent of districts indicated they were facing some level of driver shortage for 2014-2015.
One of the administrators working to accommodate the shortage is YCSD Associate Director of Transportation and Warehouse Operations James Lash, who said the school division had experienced shortages in the past, but this year’s was particularly bad.
“It’s very tough on some days,” he said. “Sometimes we’re having supervisors, dispatchers going out to drive routes.”
Those non-traditional — but still licensed — drivers are filling in this year for routes that would normally be covered by contracted or substitute drivers.
The division’s shortage is complicated by the high demand for transportation services in York County. Lash said the high number of displaced students and students going to special education programs in the county taxed the transportation resources YCSD currently has available.
“Our goal is to provide the best service,” he said. “It’s very frustrating that there’s a shortage.”
While many districts are addressing their own driver shortages, Lash said it is unclear why this year’s was so severe. He named pay as one possible issue, as newly hired substitute drivers in YCSD are paid $11 per hour and can work from four to seven hours a day.
Lash also said scheduling may factor into the shortage, as drivers must match their schedules to schools’ operating hours, which could be difficult for prospective drivers with other obligations.
The state requires bus drivers in Virginia to pass physical exams, have clean driving records, produce two character statements, acquire a commercial driver’s license and complete at least 24 hours of classroom instruction and another 24 hours of behind-the-wheel training. The official state bus driver training curriculum guide includes nine specialized units and a 15-page introduction.
As the shortage continues, Lash said the district was trying “anything and everything” to make transportation services run more efficiently. One strategy the division has experimented with is doubling-up on runs. But even with these efforts, students and parents have shown frustration with bus service.
“Yes, we’ve had some parental complaints,” Lash said. “Schools are sending out messages to let parents know about [delays].”
Though it also has a banner bus advertising driver openings, Williamsburg-James City County Schools officials said the division has avoided the driver shortages affecting other districts nationwide.
WJCC Director of Transportation Earl Tyler said last month the district was not worried it would not meet its driver quota for this year. He said summer driver training classes had yielded six new drivers, and that another eight were currently going through training.
“We’re doing pretty well,” Tyler said.
Tyler said WJCC had “a few open positions right this minute,” but the district had the personnel to cover the gap until new drivers were fully trained. He also said the district has not had to reconfigure its bus routes beyond the original plan for this year.
With no driver shortage in the district, WJCC seems to be an outlier from national trends. Senior Director of Operations Marcellus Snipes said one reason might be the rate of driver pay. Contracted drivers in WJCC are paid $12.92 per hour, compared to $11.72 for contracted drivers in YCSD. Working an average of six hours per day over the course of a 180-day school year, a contracted driver in WJCC would earn about $13,950, compared to about $12,657 in YCSD.
Snipes also said WJCC drivers were happy to work for the district.
“We do a survey every year for each department, and every year, the survey for our staff is high — close to 90 percent satisfaction rates,” he said.
Lash agreed driver pay was an issue, but said it was not localized to YCSD. Contracted drivers in YCSD qualify for overtime pay and benefits, but Lash said that package was not as appealing of an employment opportunity as the economy gradually improves.
“It takes a lot to be a school bus driver,” he said. “You can get paid more for less responsibility at a different job. An elementary route might take 60 kids to school — that’s quite a bit of responsibility.”
