WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — As many businesses and jobs struggle to hire, school districts are facing the same problem.
Triad school districts are working to fill hundreds of open positions before the first day of school, just about six weeks away.
The top priority - finding school bus drivers.
"The struggle is real, as they would say. The competitiveness in the job market and the salary ranges. Now the hourly wages are very competitive, so it makes it hard to recruit drivers," said Todd Smith. He works for Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools and is involved in recruiting and training bus drivers.
- WS/FCS has a total of 310 positions for bus drivers, they are down about 50 drivers
- They transport about 20,000 kids twice daily
- The salary is $15/hour
Yadkin County Schools is even changing its school start and end times this year because they don't have enough bus drivers either. Elementary schools will start at 7:30 a.m. instead of 7:50 a.m. Middle and high schools will start their day between 8:30 and 8:40 a.m. now.
"Going into the school year with the possibility of having 15 vacancies, we had to come up with another strategy," Boomer Kennedy with Yadkin County Schools said. Yadkin County students return to school on August 29.
Guilford County is also looking to fill bus driver positions. They've got 81 openings.
Guilford County and Winston-Salem/Forsyth County students return to school on August 29.