CHARLOTTE, N.C. — With Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools returning to class on Monday, the district is 82 drivers short, according to transportation director Adam Johnson.
The district is currently trying to fill around 35 driver vacancies. Another 47 drivers were on some sort of leave as of earlier this month. Johnson says the situation is similar to what CMS experienced last year.
"We do have quite a few drivers in the pipeline to be hired," Johnson said. "So it'll be very similar to the opening of school that we had last school year."
The news comes after a WCNC Charlotte investigation found that CMS leads all districts in the Carolinas for crashes involving buses. While district data revealed bus drivers weren't at fault for many of the crashes, about half of them were deemed "preventable." Johnson said the district is dedicating more resources over the summer to better train, retrain and retain new drivers.
"Most of them come to us with little to no experience," Johnson said. "They're new to driving a school bus. We're trying to bring people in, educate them on the process and give them all the support that they need to be successful."
Transportation officials expected to get at least 10 more drivers on board in time for the first day of school. The district expects thousands more bus riders this year, so they're working to ensure every student gets a ride for the first day of school.
"We have a little over 104,000 students that are assigned for transportation this year," Johnson said.
That's an increase of more than 6,000 students compared to this time last year. Bus records for most of the last school year, analyzed by WCNC Charlotte, show a handful of schools where more than 20% of morning buses were late. The majority of those schools had bell times after 9 a.m.
Johnson says with the driver vacancies, families can expect a 15-20 minute delay. To help keep things as smooth as possible, CMS is urging parents to remind students of their address and bus number.
"If they could put a tag in their book bag or attach it to their backpack, that helps the driver know where the student should go," Johnson explained.