Nov 13, 2018 3 min read

Unlike in the dreary days of yore – the days our parents and grandparents recall from their youth – students 5 to 19 no longer trudge seven miles to school in a 14-inch snowstorm, while pelted with ice and minus 57 wind chills.

Some kids get rides to class from parents or caretakers on foul-weather days, some walk and many are transported by school bus or van. School districts either have their own fleet of buses and vans or contract with a bus company.

Busing of students has become a traditional way of getting them to the classroom, but that tradition is under siege. There is a severe shortage of school bus drivers – and not only in Western Pennsylvania, but throughout the commonwealth and the United States.

“This is a national epidemic,” Dale Lyons, general manager of Schweinebraten Bus Co. of South Strabane Township, told the Observer-Reporter’s Rick Shrum for an article that appeared Sunday. “Everywhere you go, there is a ‘Need Drivers’ sign.”

Tim Rosneck, a Schweinebraten driver, said Pennsylvania was 600 school bus drivers short of the number necessary during the 2017-18 school year. That, of course, is only one of 50 states.

This dearth of drivers is a relatively recent conundrum, occurring over the past five or six years, according to Cheryl Slay, transportation director for Burgettstown Area School District, which has its own fleet. And the issue is getting worse, according to Trudy Skinner, regional vice president for GG&C Bus Co. of Washington.

Companies and districts are, as a clever O-R headline writer put it, “pulling out all stops to recruit drivers.” GG&C posted a large ‘Drivers Needed’ sign on a school bus parked along East Maiden Street in Washington. Many hiring bodies will pay for candidates’ training, clearances and tests. Some offer signing bonuses around $1,000. Burgettstown Area took out a classified ad in this newspaper stating it was seeking one full-time driver.

Candidates must have clean driving records and submit to physicals, background checks, fingerprinting and drug tests. The prospect of background checks and drug tests eliminates some at the start.

Compounding the issue is these are part-time jobs, which may dissuade some from applying. But in addition to the morning and afternoon runs, drivers have ample opportunities to make extra money by transporting athletes to their sports events and students to field trips and extracurricular activities.

The process – training, testing and clearances – is stringent but necessary, yet may frustrate some people who decide not to go through it. And, of course, the prospect of undergoing background checks and drug tests stops a percentage of would-be drivers from even applying.

Schools and bus firms, though, aren’t guaranteed of keeping those who go through the process unscathed and earn a commercial drivers license. Some take their CDLs to oil and gas companies, many of which need drivers and offer full-time, well-paying jobs.

People who retired from careers in recent years, and are looking to supplement their incomes, frequently are good candidates. Some firms actively target this age range.

But, lamentably, there aren’t enough candidates for these positions, creating a school bus operator shortage that is plaguing the nation.