The school district is getting a new school bus, but that highlights another issue: someone to drive it. There are currently four drivers available. The backup driver who used to act as a substitute on the existing four routes just resigned.

“If someone calls in sick or has an emergency, we’re down to three drivers,” Mike Travis, school superintendent said in a recent interview. If this happens, things quickly become complicated. Due to the distance the district serves, some children could spend up to two hours on the bus each way to and from school if the routes are reduced to three, even temporarily.

This raises other problems. The new bus and some of the existing buses seat 77 passengers, some seat 72. To remove one of these busses would mean filling the remaining buses to capacity. There also would be problems with making sure there’s available transportation for sporting events and other activities.

Although the school district has a good working relationship with private transportation companies, there are only so many drivers in the area to go around. “We have to be more competitive,” Mr. Travis said, “and grow our own drivers.”

This isn’t as easy as it might sound. Driving one of the 72 or 77 passenger vehicles is not a matter of just getting behind the wheel and putting the bus into gear. There is a long road to becoming a bus driver. Applicants must pass a physical, including a drug screening and take the tests for the CDL B driver license. There is also a 40hour course of study which involves various tests a new driver must past. While this can be done at least partially online, there is still a portion which requires hands-on training in another community. While the school tries to make this easier on applicants by paying for some of the expenses of studying remotely, this is a time commitment which isn’t always easy to make. Even passing all of these tests doesn’t make the applicant a full bus driver immediately. Altogether this process takes several months, and the driver is still on probation initially.

But even training new drivers doesn’t solve the problem of having enough for long. CDL B drivers are in demand in the private sector as well. Tourism takes a large number of qualified drivers to operate tour busses and sight-seeing expeditions. While the school bus drivers might choose to work these jobs during summer months when they are not driving for the school, some leave and never come back. These drivers find jobs in other sectors, such as working for Altran or going to Marquette to drive buses there, where they can find higher-paying work in the private sector.

What can be done? To become more competitive, the school district is considering moving drivers to full-time status, which would increase benefits. They’re also working to bring up drivers internally, looking for likely candidates among current staff.

In the meantime, the district has found other ways to take some of the pressure off of the school bus drivers. They also have a few smaller vans, most often used to transport students to and from athletic events. Although 15-passenger vans might seem more practical at first glance, they also call for a CDL B license, while the 10-passenger vans do not. Thus, taking two smaller vans to a game is often more practical than one larger one and they have become the van of choice for additional school transport.

How serious is this problem? Time is quickly becoming a factor in having enough drivers to go around. The youngest driver is 53 and the others are in their 60s. When a driver wants to retire or leave the area, the gap they leave behind could cause a problem. Thankfully, there is one candidate who is currently going through the process. But will they be enough? Or will the schools have to start considering other means of getting children to class?

No one wants to see the district go down to three routes, as this will mean children in town might have to find their own way to and from school. This becomes a problem when sidewalks aren’t always cleared of snow early enough in the morning to make walking to school safe for students in winter months.

If you would like to consider becoming a school bus driver, you can start by contacting the school district for more information on how to start the process.