YORK COUNTY — The York County School Division (YCSD) sent out an email to students’ families warning them that the bus delays they have been experiencing since the beginning of the school year will not get better anytime soon.
YCSD has been experiencing staffing shortages in several departments, but none so bad as in the transportation department. On top of the lack of licensed drivers, the department has also been hit hard by COVID-19 isolation and quarantine requirements.
According to YCSD Public Information Officer Katherine Goff, the delays are not universal but there are some bus stops that are seeing 45-minute delays going to and from school. The problems stem from drivers having to drive their routes more than once to collect all the students.
“If a route is already 30-minutes long and there is no capacity on the bus to take on extra students safely with all the measures we have in place, then they have to drive another route,” Goff said in a phone interview with WYDaily. “At the elementary level, that means the bus is having to come back and do another run after driving the original 30-minute route.”
Despite the school’s aggressive recruiting, there are still several vacancies within the department. The letter from the school division asks parents for help by promoting employment opportunities in York County Schools.
Goff emphasized that each new driver YCSD hires would have a huge impact on the transportation crisis. One bus driver can transport up to 177 students per day. Just a few more qualified drivers would take a lot of pressure off of an already overworked department.
If you or someone you know might interested in employment through YCSD, click here to view the school system’s current vacancies.
