Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Help sought behind the wheel
Springdale School District seeks more bus drivers.
SPRINGDALE — A shortage of bus drivers has the School District pushing hard to recruit those qualified for and interested in the job.
The district’s communications department this fall has sent email messages and posted on Facebook about Springdale’s desire to hire eight more bus drivers by Thanksgiving.
Kevin Conkin, the district’s assistant transportation and construction director, said Springdale could use “at least 10 or 15” more drivers now.
The Environmental and Spatial Technology programs at Springdale High
School and Har-Ber High School have assisted with the administration’s efforts, designing brochures and posters advertising the need. EAST is a self-directed class in which students use technology to solve real-world problems and perform a service to the community.
Conkin, who started with the district in August, said he visited with the students earlier this semester.
“The kids are really helping with this, which makes it unique in my mind,” he said.
Conkin said he believes the extra push for drivers has helped in terms of the number of applications coming in, but as of Friday he hadn’t finished crunching the data.
Conkin estimated the district has somewhere between 150 and 180 employees who can drive buses, including coaches who have obtained a commercial driver’s license.
Springdale drivers start at $14 per hour. Those who are interested in a driving job may start by calling the transportation department at (479) 750-8830.
The district wants more bus drivers, but Conkin said he won’t hire just anyone.
“I want quality people on there with those students,” he said.
Springdale is by no means alone in its struggle to find bus drivers. Many other districts, both in Northwest Arkansas and nationally, are having the same trouble.
“It’s a national epidemic,” said Tommy Davenport, director of transportation for the Fayetteville School District.
Fayetteville has several open bus routes. Davenport said he’d like to hire at least five more drivers.
“This is probably the worst year we’ve had in a long time,” he said, referring to the driver deficit.
The Rogers School District is considering lowering its minimum age to be a bus driver from 21 to the state’s minimum of 19.
“It may be that we meet with a 20-year-old college kid that could help us in terms of our shortage of bus drivers,” said Superintendent Marlin Berry at Tuesday’s Rogers School Board meeting.
Springdale also requires its drivers to be at least 21. There doesn’t seem to be much appetite for lowering the minimum, Conkin said.
“I think our insurance company would rather we keep it at 21,” Conkin said. “I think people are more mature at that point to handle a bus.”
Fayetteville’s minimum age is 19. The district had three college students driving for it last school year, but none have signed on to drive this year, Davenport said.
A school bus crash on Nov. 21 in Chattanooga, Tenn., killed six elementary school students and injured several more. The driver, who was 24 at the time, was going about 20 miles over the speed limit, according to police. He’s been charged with six counts of vehicular homicide.
Davenport, who started driving buses when he was 18, said one bad incident involving a young driver shouldn’t be held against all young drivers.
Bentonville Schools also has struggled with finding drivers in the recent past, but the district is in better shape than it’s been in many years, said Chris DeWitt, transportation director.
“We could use three to five more (drivers),” DeWitt said. “We’ll make it work the way it is, but we could always use more.”
Springdale implemented an attendance bonus this year for bus drivers. Drivers who don’t miss a shift during a particular month can receive a bonus of about $50 per month, Conkin said. The Bentonville, Rogers and Fayetteville districts all have similar bonus structures for their drivers.
DeWitt said Bentonville’s attendance bonus, which the School Board adopted last year, may help with retention and recruitment of drivers, but it hasn’t done much to change the drivers’ overall attendance rate.