Springdale works on school bus routes

District officials focus to minimize route cancellations, driver shortages

SPRINGDALE — School administrators are working to prevent bus cancellations this fall by consolidating bus stops and making routes more efficient.

Last year the Springdale School District struggled with canceled routes, forcing parents to find other ways to get their children to and from school, said Trent Jones, director of communications for the district. The district recognizes canceled routes create ripple effects throughout the community, impacting not only students but parents and businesses, he said.

Coaches and administrators stepped up to help, and even Deputy Superintendent Kelly Hayes and Superintendent Jared Cleveland led by example and drove routes, Jones said.

This year, the district is revising routes and hiring drivers to make sure routes stay consistent, Jones said. Most bus stops will be within walking distance of students’ homes, though some rural stops present a challenge and the district is looking for optimal solutions in those areas, he said.

“The hope is no routes get canceled,” Jones said.

Districts often report bus driver shortages, but the last two years have been more challenging than usual in the Fayetteville and Springdale school districts, administrators said. Other districts in the region said they are fully staffed, but still encourage community members to consider becoming bus drivers.

It’s always difficult to find bus drivers, but the covid pandemic has made it harder than usual, Jones said. Last year, the district was down 12 drivers from the previous year, according to Jeremy White, director of support services. This year, the district will be down one driver from last year’s number — if, that is, two drivers who are in training pass their commercial driver’s license test, he said.

The district is the largest in the state with nearly 22,000 students, and has 58 regular routes and 19 special education routes, Jones said. Its transportation department has an absentee rate of about 10%, which was exacerbated by covid, he said. The new routes have built in redundancy when absences happen, he said.

The district hopes to hire another 10 drivers this year, White said. Springdale’s driver pay starts at $19 an hour plus attendance bonuses, Hayes said. The job also offers a flexible schedule, benefits and paid training to earn a commercial driver’s license, Jones said. It’s a great way to serve the community and earn extra money, he said.

“There has never been a better time to be a bus driver,” Jones said.

Jones asked families for grace and understanding while the district adjusts to the new bus stops.

“I think it’s important for us to remember the tremendous impact that canceling bus routes had on our families and our community, and with that in mind we are going together work to find a solution so we can make sure those bus routes get there,” he said.

“If a family might need to get further to get to that bus stop, we’re asking them to be our partner and understand why we are doing it.”

Parents can find updated routes on the district’s website, sdale.org, on the transportation page, Jones said. New zones are being uploaded daily, he said.

The Fayetteville School District also had to temporarily cancel some routes for the first time last year because of a shortage of drivers, according to Mike McClure, director of transportation. In some cases the district ran double routes to ensure students got to and from school, which caused delays, he said. At times students didn’t get to school until 9:30 to 10 a.m., or didn’t get home until 5 to 6 p.m., he said.

The district is looking to hire another 10 drivers this year, McClure said. Fayetteville, which serves more than 10,000 students, last year had 53 routes and 43 drivers, he said.

The school is looking for ways to consolidate routes here and there to be more efficient, but it’s difficult when the district is growing, McClure said.

Fayetteville raised starting pay from $14.25 an hour to $19.30 an hour last year to make it more competitive with other schools, including the University of Arkansas transit system, McClure said. Drivers are also eligible for health insurance and other benefits, even though they work part time, he said. The district offers training to help drivers earn their commercial driver’s license, but the process takes six to eight weeks, he said.

Some drivers are retired people who are at higher risk for covid, so they chose to quit driving, McClure said, noting many industries are suffering from labor shortages.

The people who drive buses are student-focused and take pride in jobs, McClure said, adding, “We are looking for good people.”

The Bentonville School District is looking to hire four bus drivers for this fall, according to spokeswoman Leslee Wright. Bus driver pay starts at $19.42 an hour, she said.

Administrators from the Rogers and Gravette school districts say their transportation departments are fully staffed with bus drivers.

Rogers has enough bus drivers to cover all its routes, though that could change, according to Charles Lee, assistant superintendent of general administration.

“If there were six applicants in our applicant pool, we would probably hire them,” he said.

Rogers, with more than 15,000 students, 70 routes and 80 drivers, was able to avoid driver shortages and route cancellations last year, Lee said. Several transportation office staff members drove when necessary and the department has a great pool of substitute drivers, he said.

Driver pay in Rogers starts at $17,357 a year for a six-hour workday, according to the district salary schedule.

Gravette is fully staffed with bus drivers for the upcoming school year, according to Superintendent Maribel Childress. The district, with an enrollment of more than 1,800 students, has 23 routes and 24 bus drivers. Many of the drivers are retired people who enjoy working part time, she said.

Bus driver pay starts at $10,479 a year for a three-hour route and ranges to $19,992 a year for the most experienced drivers with a four hour, 15 minute route, according to the district’s salary schedule.

The district did lose one or two drivers during the covid pandemic who weren’t comfortable working because they were high risk, but several retired drivers came back to help fill the gap when they heard of the shortage, Childress said.

Childress encouraged anyone with free time before and after school to consider becoming a bus driver.

“Our bus drivers are the first school personnel children see in the morning and the last they see in the afternoon,” she said. “Those relationships are very special.”