School bus services at area schools still impacted by staffing shortages
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Columbia Public Schools and the Jefferson City School District bus systems continue to be impacted by ongoing staffing shortages ahead of the new school year.
A lack of bus drivers has been an issue plaguing both CPS and JCSD for the past year.
"Last year, we saw some situations where bus drivers were sick or, the numbers were dwindling," CPS Superintendent Brian Yearwood said.
Yearwood said there may be times when routes have to be consolidated into one. He said when this happens, it will be the routes that carry the least amount of students.
"We are going to make sure that it is placed to where perhaps, you see a bus that may be a quarter-full or less than, you know half-full. So, we can actually consolidate with another pickup area," Yearwood said.
Parents will be notified about changes in stops, and pick-up times by the school.
CPS is working on ways to address the shortage.
"We are looking at hiring, you know, having enough drivers," Yearwood said. "I guess substitute drivers that are there, and just setting up our systems to where if they are, or we do see a reduction, we can consolidate in some areas to make sure that we are prepared."
The Jefferson City School District is facing similar issues with staffing.
"We're down a few drivers from where we were pre-COVID, but enough to man the routes and have kids here and learning," Superintendent Bryan McGraw.
McGraw said they too are doing a number of things in an attempt to fix the staffing issues.
"We're also putting monitors on some of our busses that had an elevated discipline trying to make it a better experience for drivers, but the struggle right now is the staff," McGraw said.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol evaluated JCSD's buses earlier this year and found more than half fell under either the “defected” or “out of service” categories. Repairs have since been made over the summer.
"They fixed them, and hopefully in the future, you know, we will correct those before the inspections, when we see things of that nature that are not, not a safe scenario," McGraw said.
