Schools feel the pinch of bus driver shortage

In Pullman, a shortage of bus drivers may soon begin impacting school activities.

With field trips, away games and other extracurricular activities locked in, the Pullman School District has been scrambling to fill gaps in its bus schedule. According to Executive Director of Operations Joe Thornton, two regular routes are currently vacant.

“Eventually a driver will get sick and we’re going to have to cancel something,” he said. “There’s been lots of days where every available person that can drive, including three people who have a different job, is being used.”

As the shortage stretches staff members beyond their typical duties, Thornton is anxiously awaiting the point where “something’s going to give.”

Just a week ago, a bus driver took the middle school football team to Lewiston for a game, returned to Pullman to drive the afternoon bus route and then went back to Lewiston to pick up the students.

“Right now, we’ve been able to move everything around and make it work,” he said. “But it’ll hit a point where we’re not able to plug all those holes.”

The school district is offering $22.98 per hour to anyone willing to drive its big yellow school buses. Drivers will also be reimbursed for the costs involved with getting a commercial driver’s license and passenger endorsement.

Palouse Superintendent Mike Jones says his school district also has a limited number of bus drivers, but it is managing to cover all the regular routes and activities.

“We can always use additional bus drivers,” Jones said. “There is a shortage.”

At the Colton School District, administrators are desperate to recruit more people for the job. Brad Nilson, who works in maintenance, transportation and grounds, said he’ll probably be driving buses if no one signs up.

He currently has three regular bus drivers and two substitute teachers who help out in a pinch. However, two of those drivers are going to Arizona in November.

“Someone in the office is going to have to get their CDL,” Nilson joked. “It’s going to be tough.”

When he first started working for the school district 24 years ago, it had four bus routes. Now, it’s down to three.

He hopes to bring on community members who may be available for part-time work, like retirees or stay-at-home parents. But for some prospective drivers, the pay and split schedule might not be worth it.

“I used to have plenty of subs and people were fighting over taking trips,” Nilson said. “Now, there’s a lack of people that want to do it.”

If current trends don’t change, Thornton is worried the Pullman School District will have to cancel extracurricular trips or begin shortening bus routes. He already lost a few drivers near the beginning of the pandemic.

The role is typically filled by retired people, a demographic at a higher risk for severe complications from the virus.

“We lost a couple of drivers because of COVID-19,” Thornton said. “Some said they wanted to hunker down and stay at home because of their age.”

Bus drivers usually work a split shift — about two hours in the morning and two hours in the afternoon.

If the shortage gets worse, some students may have to wait for the bus to take them home after school because their usual driver isn’t available. And if routes get shortened, Thornton said, they might even need to go further to catch the bus.

“If there’s anyone out there who has the time and would like to work with kids at the school district, we would love to train them,” he said.

Palermo can be reached at apalermo@dnews.com or on Twitter @apalermotweets.