pittsburgh school bus driver shortage 2017

#Pittsburgh school bus driver shortage 2017 drivers
#Pittsburgh school bus driver shortage 2017 full

The Pennsylvania education secretary, Noe Ortega, said Thursday that the driver shortage is “frustrating to our students, and our parents.” He said it “isn’t something we can fix overnight” but was optimistic that progress would be made. He applauded the state's outreach to CDL holders and said he's hopeful it will result in new bus drivers. NBC10's Miguel Martinez-Valle reports on the payments being offered. The school bus driver shortage has the Philadelphia School District upping its offer to parents willing to drive their children to school.

“Now we're at the point where kids can’t get to school.” “It's nothing new, it's just now we’re at a crisis point,” Dellinger said Thursday.

#Pittsburgh school bus driver shortage 2017 drivers

Executive Director Ryan Dellinger said it is a longstanding issue that's been made worse by the pandemic, with some drivers reluctant to come back because of COVID-19 concerns. The Pennsylvania School Bus Association, a trade group representing transportation contractors, surveyed its members over the summer and estimates at least 1,000 drivers are needed statewide.

#Pittsburgh school bus driver shortage 2017 full

Superintendent Timothy Glasspool told families the driver shortage “has reached a critical point, and is affecting our ability to operate at full capacity.” In rural northwestern Pennsylvania, the Penncrest School District announced rotating two-hour school delays. The School District of Philadelphia is also paying parents to drive their children to and from school. The district said those families would be eligible for reimbursement of transportation costs. In Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh delayed the start of school because of the shortage and began the year with hundreds of students still without a seat. The Lower Merion School District is asking families to be flexible as they prepare for a potential bus driver shortage. That’s the critical part of all of this,” said Kurt Myers, PennDOT’s deputy secretary for driver and vehicle services. “We want to do everything we possibly can to expand the number of individuals with school bus endorsements to be able to get our children to school. Officials are hoping to address the shortage by appealing to drivers looking for work or seeking to supplement their income. The state has a little more than 42,000 school bus drivers, the smallest complement in five years and about 2,000 fewer than in 2017, which has left some districts scrambling to get students to and from school. Pennsylvania is contacting 375,000 holders of commercial driver's licenses in a recruitment campaign meant to ease a severe shortage of school bus drivers, officials said Thursday. Schools across the nation are facing driver shortages, and many Pennsylvania districts are impacted.The state has a little more than 42,000 school bus drivers, the smallest complement in five years.Pennsylvania is mailing letters to 375,000 holders of commercial driver’s licenses in a recruitment campaign meant to address a shortage of school bus drivers.Rockford Public Schools in Michigan increased its starting pay for bus drivers from $17 an hour to approximately $21 an hour this year. Some school districts are trying to stay competitive by raising compensation to retain drivers who may consider leaving for better-paying jobs. In the face of these challenges, schools are responding with a range of strategies. “It’s been a chronic problem over the years, but the pandemic made it worse as schools shut down and went virtual, and drivers (who had grown) tired of split shifts, low pay and poor benefits left student transportation to pursue other opportunities,” said Wes Platt, who serves as the executive editor of School Bus Fleet, which covers school transportation issues. Half of those kids rely on taking the school bus. ( NewsNation) - School districts across America are struggling to recruit enough bus drivers to meet their communities’ needs.Ībout 20 million pre-high school students nationwide live too far to walk to school, according to the U.S.