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COVID 19 : School Bus Drivers Shortage Hit Florida, US, As Many Are Quiting Their Job
School bus drivers shortage hit Florida as more are quiting Job amid rising cases of COVID 19 pandemic in United States.
Some schools are using managers and other stop-gap measures to get students to class as the new school year begins.
Many of Florida’s largest school districts are finding it difficult to hire enough bus drivers because of the pandemic. Meanwhile, some are using managers and other stop-gap measures to get students to class as the new school year begins.
The Associated Press contacted most of the state’s 20 largest districts Monday and many said they have not been able to fully fill their openings, forcing some drivers to handle extra routes. Other districts are asking parents to drive their children to and from school when possible. This is to reduce the numbers requiring busing or putting transportation department managers back behind the wheel.
In just the first week of school in Lee County, 20 bus drivers quit their jobs, FOX 4 reports — despite the school district already being short by 100 drivers during the summer.
One parent told the news outlet that her child hadn’t been to school in three days because the bus never came to pick her up.
“They did not come so I drove her to school. And they also did not come to pick her up to bring her back home from school and I had to drive in the middle of a storm,” Jennifer Sopka told FOX 4.
“There were multiple parents there and the teacher that dropped her off to me told me that there was only one bus that came to pick up any students.”
Florida has been hard hit by the resurgent COVID-19 pandemic, and that has likely scared off candidates for a job that can be stressful under normal circumstances. Many districts are not requiring masks on buses, but even districts that do are short drivers.
“Recruiting and retaining bus drivers was a struggle pre-pandemic, but the labor shortage in general has exacerbated the issue not only for us, but for districts everywhere,” said Erin Maloney, a spokesperson for Hillsborough County Public Schools. The district requires students to wear masks unless their parents opt them out, but it still needs to add 100 drivers to the 750 now working.
“Our bus drivers are running double loads in some areas to make sure kids get to school,” Maloney said. “We also have anyone with a license who is able to drive working in our transportation building out on the roads instead. It is all hands on deck.”
The state education department had no immediate comment Monday on the driver shortage. The delta variant of the virus has swept through Florida over the last two months: About 15,600 people are hospitalized with COVID-19, nearly eight times more than in June, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Not all districts are struggling. A few districts like Pinellas, Seminole and Brevard counties say that despite the pandemic, they have enough drivers. But others say they are juggling to cover all their routes.
Palm Beach County schools asked parents to drive their children if possible. Polk County normally has 510 drivers, but only has 430 working. Collier County is using staff and former substitute drivers to fully cover its routes. Lake County has 26 open positions out of 237. Lee County, which needs to add 100 drivers, made its drivers full-time employees so they are eligible for health insurance and other benefits sooner, giving an incentive to new hires.
The Broward school district, Florida’s second-largest, says it needs to hire about 190 drivers to fill its full complement of 1,000. Officials say to fill the voids, drivers will run some routes twice and some routes will be combined. Broward had two teachers and an assistant die last week from COVID-19.
