Both Escambia and Santa Rosa County have a shortage of bus drivers, sometimes resulting in tardiness and transportation department administrative staff members filling in to drive routes. (Jake Newby/jnewby@pnj.com) Wochit
A shortage of bus drivers in the Escambia County School District has led to an increase in late buses — as well as students who are late to school — and parents want a resolution.
ECSD Director of Transportation Steve Harrell said that as of Monday, the district is eight drivers short of where it wants to be to cover its average number of daily routes.
The fallout of the driver shortage includes students arriving late for school and drivers having to run double routes or the less common “double backs,” which Harrell said is when one driver completes a route, returns to the school or bus stop and picks up a second group of kids for another route.
The shortage is sometimes forcing the transportation department to send route managers out on routes, which leaves the department shorthanded on the administrative end.
Harrell said driver shortages aside, many of these issues are difficult to correct.
“We fluctuate between about 240 and 280 buses on the road each day, and with that, many buses covering anywhere between 23,000 and 30,000 miles each day. There are going to be complications that pop up,” Harrell said. “The question is, how do we deal with it? If it means putting a manager out on the bus, then we do it. We work some long hours around here to make up for those things, and we do our best to keep the train rolling with as little complication as possible.”
ECSD Superintendent Malcolm Thomas said the district is always trying to hire and retain new drivers, but that can be a tall task.
“We’re constantly training, because, you know, you can’t just walk into the office and say, ‘I’d like to drive the bus tomorrow,'” Thomas said. “You have to pass the federal Department of Transportation medical exam, you have to go through a 40-hour training program on the school bus. And we provide that, we pay people to go through that once they can clear the rest of the employment process.”
A 2017 nationwide bus driver shortage study conducted by the National Association for Pupil Transportation found that 90 percent of districts or transportation companies that participated in the study suffered from some degree of shortage, with 33 percent reporting a moderate shortage, 29 percent reporting a mild shortage and 23 percent reporting a severe shortage.
NAPT found that factors for the shortage included benefits, rate of pay, obtaining a commercial driver’s license and the hours available to work. Thomas said he sees this conglomeration of issues contributing to the local shortage, as well as the district’s strict hiring guidelines.
“Here, not only do you have to pass a background check, your driving record’s gonna have to be pretty good,” he said. “If you have a DUI in your past, you’re not going to be hired as a school bus driver. So, there are requirements that will eliminate willing applicants who can’t meet them.”
The driving staff in Escambia County is a constant revolving door, according to Thomas and Harrell. The district’s target of hiring eight more drivers is down from the 11 needed just last week after the district made three hires, all of whom will start after the holiday vacation.
“Eight more drivers puts us in a spot where we’ve got enough to run daily operations and have substitute drivers, that’s like your break-even point,” Harrell added. “I need eight drivers to be comfortable today. But, if 30 drivers came in the door and were eligible to be trained, I’d train them. We have room on our staffing grid for a ton of substitute drivers.”
A substitute driving pool or “bench” is useful when drivers are sick, on paid vacation or are tied up on a field trip. Student Transportation of America, which officially took over transportation duties for Santa Rosa County in July, also needs drivers, but the need isn’t as dire as it is in Escambia County.
Denis Gallagher Jr., the vice president of operations for STA’s southeast region, said the contracted company currently employs 198 drivers in Santa Rosa County to cover the average 193 routes run on a daily basis. Eight more drivers are currently taking behind-the-wheel training and another two are performing CDL testing, with 12 more applicants set to begin the interview process in the coming weeks, he said.
Read more: Santa Rosa County school transportation woes addressed by district, contractor
“Our contract started on July 1 and we could only really start recruiting at that point, so we only had about six weeks before school started,” Gallagher Jr. said. “To take a potential candidate off the streets with no driving experience at all and to get them through the pipeline — if everything falls into place perfectly — takes about a month.”
There were 28 fewer drivers than there were routes in Santa Rosa County when school began Aug. 13, Gallagher Jr. said. The county asks that STA maintains a 10 percent bench, which is approximately 10 backup drivers on staff. STA is a handful of drivers short of that goal, and the company won’t stop recruiting until its bench is at 20 percent, Gallagher Jr. said.
Harrell, who is in his first year as transportation director in Escambia County, acknowledged a recent string of tardy bus arrivals, but said a low number of buses are late on a daily basis, relative to the number of routes being run on a given day.
“The reality is there’s only a handful of buses that are late each day, and when you’re putting hundreds of buses out there and you have a handful that are late, are those numbers really all that bad?” Harrell asked. “Yes, anytime a bus is late is bad, don’t get me wrong. But it’s not like every bus we’re putting on the road is late.”
Thomas said the district is always advertising, through both local media outlets and its social media accounts, and holding job fairs in an attempt to recruit drivers.
“There’s never a day that we’re not trying to hire certain district positions, with bus driver being one of those,” Thomas said. “We’re always looking to add to employees in those areas.”
Depending on experience level, the pay wage at STA in Santa Rosa County ranges from $12.75 to $17.41 an hour. In Escambia County, the starting wage is $11.52 with negotiated, periodic raises the longer a driver works for the district. Bus operators in both counties receive benefits, including health insurance and paid time off.
Harrell mentioned military spouses as “an untapped resource” the county is eager to recruit.
“If you’re only going to be here for a few years, why not get the training, become a bus driver and then as your spouse moves across the country you’re still qualified to drive a bus there or some other type of commercial vehicle,” he said.
Gallagher Jr. added stay-at-home moms and retirees as good fits for the position, which he believes is a rewarding one.
“It takes a special person to be a bus driver, it’s really someone who has a passion for being involved in the community,” Gallagher Jr. said. “If you’re a parent, especially, you understand the obligation that we have to get kids to and from school. It’s a couple hours a day and it goes a long way, makes a big difference in the community.”
To start the process of becoming a driver for STA in Santa Rosa County, applicants can fill out the online forms on the company’s website.
To apply in Escambia County, visit EscambiaYellow.com or apply in person at the transportation office at 100 E. Texar Drive in Pensacola.
Jake Newby can be reached at jnewby@pnj.com or 850-435-8538.
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