‘The door has fallen off the hinges’
Danbury schools, athletics face dire need for bus drivers
DANBURY — A nationwide school bus driver shortage is affecting not only how students get to and from school.
Danbury High School’s athletic department is scrambling to provide buses for students to travel to away games or practices off campus.
So far, a bus driver is available for about one-third of sports trips, said Chip Salvestrini, athletic director.
“The door has fallen off the hinges,” he told the school board Wednesday evening.
School bus companies across the country are facing a shortage in drivers, affecting several schools locally. Some students in New Milford, for example, won’t be able to take the bus at certain times this week because a driver called out of work and a replacement isn’t available.
It’s hard to attract bus drivers because they’re part-time positions that don’t pay well and a commercial driver’s license is required, according to HopSkipDrive, an organization focused on student transportation.
Bus drivers have had more responsibilities due to the coronavirus pandemic, with nearly three quarters of recipients to a 2021 School Bus Fleet survey reporting increasing cleaning and sanitizing practices.
Many school bus drivers have retired because they were over 65 and vulnerable to COVID-19, while training new bus drivers is time-consuming, according to the HopSkipDrive.
“I was hoping quite frankly that this would be a problem that would pass us by. But unfortunately we have had to deal with a shortage right here in Danbury,” Superintendent Kevin Walston told the school board. “Our bus company has been an amazing partner to date, and they remain and continue to be an amazing partner, but they are also challenged with the shortage.”
The bus company, Student Transportation of America, could add vehicles without a problem, Walston said. The school district and company agreed at the end of last school year to renew their contract and add 10 buses.
“It’s not about money and resources to fund the buses,” Walston said. “The challenge has been finding folks to drive the buses.”
Walston and the principals planned to meet Thursday and discuss how the schools could make the bus runs more efficient.
“My understanding is some of the qualifications for bus drivers has been relaxed a bit so we’re hoping there’s going to be an increase in available drivers here in Danbury,” he said.
Salvestrini said he was shocked when he got an email on Aug. 11 from the company saying it could only provide buses for athletes at 1 p.m. or 4 p.m.
“I probably went blank because we build our program based on 2:30 p.m. departure,” he said.
Buses are needed for about 160 of the roughly 360 interscholastic athletic events, Salvestrini said. This includes away games and about 10 trips a week to get athletes to off-campus practice facilities in Danbury.
At first, the athletic department had about 110 trips that needed coverage, but has worked with the bus company to find drivers for all but 50 to 60 trips, Salvestrini said.
“STA has been bent over backward to support us, training the drivers and doing that kind of things, but it may not be enough,” he said.
From now until Oct. 10, he said he needs to find 25 to 30 drivers. Normally, driving to Stamford, for example, would cost a couple hundred dollars, he said.
“But when you go to outside carriers, now that can quadruple,” Salvestrini said.
He wants to avoid telling teams they can’t go to away games. One district was told the company wouldn’t have buses for three schools’ games, he said.
“We’re looking at two week blocks, so for the next two weeks I know I can get the kids to where they need to go,” Salvestrini said. “But after that it becomes real tricky, real sticky.”