What good is reopening the schools if we don’t have anyone to drive the buses?
Well, we have people to drive the buses, but only two thirds as many as we did before coronavirus, says the company that runs the buses for the Sioux Falls School District, which is having trouble retaining and recruiting drivers:
“We’re about a third of drivers down, going into the fall. Recruitment has been a bit of a challenge because of the coronavirus outbreak. We’re having trouble keeping and retaining a lot of our older drivers,” said Christopher Montgomery, Director of Safety and HR for School Bus Inc.
A majority of their school bus drivers are retired and drive part-time. Some don’t feel comfortable coming back because they are at a higher risk of getting COVID-19. School Bus Inc. staff say they’ll do all they can to keep their drivers and passengers safe.
…The starting wage is $17.75 an hour. School Bus Inc. also offers test drives, so folks can see if driving a bus is something they’d be comfortable doing [Miranda Paige, “School Bus Driver Shortage amid Covid-19 Pandemic,” KSFY, 2020.07.17].
Sioux Falls pays its basic substitute teachers $13.75 an hour; long-term subs get $17.19 an hour. If we go with online learning this fall, we could do without bus drivers and instead hire more subs to act as ongoing teacher aides to conduct live small-group Zoom lessons and chats and offer student homework support by phone and e-mail. Such teacher support could all be done from home, thus posing less health risk to willing helpers.
Will the school district supply the masks and sanitizers that bus drivers must have, considering they’re going to be driving herds of children to and from school? (Speaking as a retired teacher, children of all ages are highly unsanitary.)
Who will be cleaning the buses at the end of each run?
In the current environment, you’re right Cory. Forget the busing and spend the $ on more online help.
The petrol saved will be incredible! Also, the extra curricular activities that have cost family’s and the environment plenty, will be cut as well. We can work more on safer, more sanitary, public transportation.
I like the idea of giving teachers raises and of hiring more professional teachers that are savvy to the ways of modern communication. This will also help those students who struggle in a classroom. Remote teaching is the way of our future!!