Shortage means your child may not have a bus some days in this Pierce County school district
Peninsula School District’s Transportation Department told parents certain bus routes will be canceled and they’ll be notified the day of when that happens.
As a result of a national bus driver shortage affecting the district, it will need to cancel certain bus routes as needed.
The district made the announcement in a email to PSD families Tuesday night, Dec. 5. A parent posted the email in a Key Peninsula Facebook group.
Buses make their first pick up of students at 6 a.m., Dawnett Wright, director of transportation told the Gateway Thursday.
If your child’s bus route is canceled for the day, you’ll be alerted via text message and ParentSquare by 5:30 a.m. that same morning. That leaves students who typically get picked up at 6 a.m. with a 30-minute notice that the bus isn’t coming.
Route cancellations will affect both morning and afternoon pick-ups/drop-offs for that day.
That should be temporary, PSD said in the email.
No routes have been canceled yet, but Wright said cancellations are likely after winter break because of “driver illness, a lack of substitute bus drivers, and upcoming driver retirements and resignations.”
PSD currently has 62 daily bus drivers. Wright said the district anticipates four to five will retire or resign by the end of the year. The district has eight substitute drivers.
When asked how many drivers the district would need to avoid cutting routes, Wright said 62 drivers, each with three morning and afternoon routes. Plus, a large substitute driver pool to draw from.
“Please know we do not take this decision lightly and we understand the impact this will have on our students and families,” PSD said in the email. “We will also make sure that the same route is not continuously affected by cancellations.”
Which routes will be canceled depends on the number of bus drivers for that day. Special-needs routes will not be canceled because those routes are federally mandated, Wright said.
“PSD runs a daily 7% average absentee rate because of illnesses but substitute bus drivers can typically fill that gap,” Wright said. “There have been days we’ve had up to 19% of bus drivers out in single day.”
When a route is canceled for the day, it will force PSD families to quickly make a different transportation plan.
Parents in the Key Peninsula Facebook group were not happy that some mornings they might have to make other plans for getting their child to school.
Students who arrive to school late because of a bus route cancellation will get an excused tardy or absence, PSD said in the email.
Some parents created the Peninsula Parent Childcare co-op and Carpool Facebook group to help each other out should a last-minute cancellation happen.
One user said on Facebook that solution might not work for everyone.
“What about the parents that can’t go to work late and turn around and leave early?” she said. “What about the kids that are only able to eat because they go to school? What about the kids that are being abused and will now have to stay home? What about the education they are entitled to but will miss?”
A parent, Nicole De La Torre, said on Facebook students should be allowed to Zoom in when they cannot make it because of no transportation.
A Tacoma Public School bus driver jumped in the conversation and said TPS has been canceling routes for years.
“We hate doing it but we simply can’t pull drivers out of our butts to cover routes,” TPS bus driver Sarah Mernone said. “Driver shortage is a huge problem and has gotten worse since Covid. A lot of our drivers try and pick up as much slack and work extra hours to help but there’s only so much we can do without a full staff.”
A Kitsap County parent said they started experiencing bus-route cancellations last year.
“Welcome to the fun of crossing your fingers when you open the message to see if it’s your kid’s route,” she said.
PSD said it is still hiring for full-time and part-time bus drivers. District officials asked residents to spread to word about their “urgent need” in the email.
“We remain committed to running as many bus routes as possible, while keeping student health and safety as the first priority,” PSD said.
To become a bus driver, no experience is required and paid training is provided, Wright told the Gateway.
This story was originally published December 8, 2023 at 5:15 AM.
