BURLINGTON, N.C. — North Carolina State Superintendent of Public Instruction Catherine Truitt thanked bus drivers and transportation staff Wednesday as there continues to be a driver shortage in the Piedmont Triad.
School districts across the country, including in the Piedmont Triad, have faced bus driver shortages made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Parents want their children in school, we know that this is the best place for students to be, but at the same time if it weren’t for bus drivers students wouldn’t get here," Truitt said.
Since early January, high schoolers at Greensboro and High Point schools in the Guilford County Schools district have not had access to school-provided transportation due to a shortage of drivers. Instead, the district partnered with both Greensboro and High Point to provide free public transportation.
“This is nothing any of us have experienced, and it is causing us to do something unusual,” said GCS Superintendent Dr. Sharon Contreras about the changes.
Truitt said while the state can help in some ways, recruiting and retaining drivers has historically been a local issue.
"At the end of the day districts, I think, really need to step up listen to their bus drivers and decide how can we make this a more inviting career for those who are looking for something to do," Truitt added.
Guilford County Schools will give bus drivers $1,000 if they work every day for a month as the district grapples with a shortage of drivers.
The bonuses have been $100 since October 2021. Drivers are able to get the bonuses multiple times. Contreras said the bonuses are part of multiple incentives the district is using to recruit and retain drivers.
Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools has 80 bus driver vacancies. The district is also offering several incentives including $500 in May and, if they have perfect attendance for the quarter, they get another $200. They also get an extra $20 per run and overtime.
According to the district, the starting wage for drivers was raised in 2021 to $15 an hour. The median pay is over $16 an hour. Bus drivers are paid more than every other hourly employee in the district.
The Alamance-Burlington school district is also offering a $1000 bonus for new drivers and current drivers who refer someone.
ABSS driver Clyde Fuller said if there was a way for medical and retirement benefits to be offered, it would attract more people.
"They need to be set up a system where they at least get enough hours to get some type of benefit(s) and increase in pay per hour," Fuller said.
Fuller has been driving the same route for 12 years and said he enjoys the connections he makes with students.
"You have a family of kids that you pick up every day," said Fuller. "You see them grow up through life."
It's also a sense of community among the drivers.
"It's like an ABS family and if (you're) here a while you become part of that family," said Fuller. "So that’s the way our bus drivers are: family no matter what school you go, to we (are) all the same."