By Stephane Babcock

It’s the same old story: New school year, not enough drivers. But the times they are a changing. A lapse in the economy — paired with increased pay, additional benefits and new hiring practices — is helping some districts to fill more open positions for the 2008-2009 school year.

Linda Farby, the director of transportation for Fairfax County, Va., Public Schools, decided to give an outsider a chance when it came to keeping one of the nation’s largest district-owned school bus fleets moving into the new academic year. Instead of leaving the job up to her district’s HR department, Farby hired a recruiter who focused on military and other retirees, and particularly on the area’s large immigrant population.

“He is working in conjunction with a public group, Skill Source, that aids immigrants to improve their job status — i.e., out of a $5 an hour kitchen job into a $16 an hour school bus driving job.”

The Fairfax transportation department has also collaborated with a local church to develop a program that selects motivated applicants with minimal language skills to become school bus drivers. The program begins in mid-October with applicants given two weeks of training, with pay, to become school bus attendants. In November, they are paid to work as school bus attendants in the morning and afternoon and to attend mid-day classes three days a week that focus on language skills. The remaining days are used to study materials for driver training and working on mastering the technical school bus details in English, according to Fabry. After graduating in March, they start five weeks of driver training.

“Those who complete driver training successfully, become drivers. Those who do not, can remain as attendants and reapply in 12 months. We usually find that they can easily pass the driver class once they have the additional year in a bus,” added Fabry.

Looking at the Whole Picture
In Alvin, Texas, drivers are viewed from a number of levels, from pay to the type of vehicle they are given and beyond.

“We look at recruiting and retention in a holistic manner,” said Alvin Independent School District Transportation Director John Ralph. “Our first step is to ensure we provide an adequate salary, along with sufficient hours, to get them in the door. We then provide the best equipped bus (AC, automatic door openers, air/electric seats, etc.) for their work environment.”

The next step in Ralph’s plan is a comprehensive training program to prepare drivers for their first day of on the job. This is followed up by monthly meetings and other training necessary to maintain and improve each driver’s skills.

Routinely acknowledging hard work can also go a long way, as Ralph recognizes drivers with no accidents, perfect attendance and so on during pre-holiday lunches. The department’s employee performance evaluation provides a conduit for those with above average ratings to be eligible for additional routes and hours.

“We treat all employees fairly when there are issues of conduct/behavior so there is no sense of favoritism. In essence, we work hard to ensure the ‘professional’ affixed to the term school bus driver has meaning and the individual is cognizant of their responsibilities,” added Ralph.

Same Story, New Problems
Even with the national unemployment rate hitting 6.1 percent this past August — a nearly five year high— many districts are continuing to experience difficulties hiring, and keeping, drivers. Some are even losing some of the benefits that previously kept the driver positions filled.

“Right now we are between a rock and a hard place because our district has decided to withdraw all insurance benefits from the drivers beginning July 1, 2009,” said Michael A. LaRocco, director of transportation for Center Grove Community School Corporation in Greenwood, Ind.

Although LaRocco is looking for a solution, it might not come quick enough. He has already lost two drivers and expects to lose another 10 percent by the end of the school year.

“I’m attempting to find a mechanism for third-party vendors to get involved in providing insurance benefits without involving the district. Until that happens, if it happens, I will not be able to get anybody to drive unless they already have benefits from another source,” added LaRocco.

The U.S. Department of Transportation recently amended certain provisions of its drug and alcohol testing procedures related to altered, substituted, diluted, and invalid urine specimen results. The final rule went into effect Aug. 25. Read the final rule from the Federal Register, the DOT notice from the Office of the Secretary and a summary of the regulation.