Gowanda in need of more school bus drivers News, Sports, Jobs
GOWANDA — A nationwide shortage of bus drivers is continuing to impact the Gowanda Central School District, according to Transportation Supervisor Annette Nelson.
While many schools across the country have an issue adequately staffing their student transportation services, Gowanda is having an especially challenging time after the retirement of two bus drivers and the death of another. Nelson shared with the Board of Education this month that the district has only added one new driver this year, leaving the district with only 11 drivers on staff. She noted the situation could also get even more dire, as two drivers currently employed are contemplating retirement.
At the recent Board of Education meeting, Nelson presented a study on the reorganization of the bus routes planned for this upcoming school year and how students would benefit from staffing more bus drivers.
In the first example of the study, with 10 standard runs of full-size buses — the way things are expected to be as of the Aug. 17 meeting — the first student picked up would be on the bus an average of just over 31 minutes, while the average ride time for any student would be just shy of 32 minutes. The longest duration of those 10 first-on-the-bus students would be estimated at 36 minutes and the shortest duration would be estimated at 27 minutes.
If Gowanda were to hire three additional full-time drivers, the district could implement 14 standard bus runs. In that example, the time a student spends on the bus would be down to an average of 24.6 minutes, a difference of over 7 minutes for each student.
As is the case in both examples, all times are subject to change in special circumstances, such as poor weather conditions or if COVID restrictions that require social distancing go into effect again. Should social distancing be required — or should additional staffing issues arise to where 10 runs could not be staffed — the possibility of bus runs being consolidated would be entertained and times for all students impacted would increase. Last school year, 456 students were assigned transportation through the system.
“If we are required to revert to social distancing on the buses, everything is going to change significantly. … It does really impact us a lot,” Nelson said.
The biggest obstacle in the way of implementing the proposed 14-run plan is simply that there are not enough drivers willing and able to do the job. Hiring bus drivers has become even more difficult in recent years, especially as the federal government now requires extra training on top of what was previously required. Because of a lack of interest and an unwillingness to dramatically increase compensation to entice new drivers, Gowanda is left in the position it has been in going back to last year – wishing it could hire more drivers but not getting enough interest.
The district is also open to the possibility of hiring part-time drivers, for either just a morning run or just an afternoon run. However, because there has not been significant interest from qualified applicants, there are currently no part-time drivers on staff.
“That is something that I have entertained. … Nobody has come to me with that request,” said Nelson.
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