School bus driver shortage leaves some students with special needs on Long Island in the lurch
HICKSVILLE, N.Y. -- Parents of some students with special needs on Long Island are scrambling for solutions after starting the school year this week with no bus service.
Their bus company blames the nationwide school bus driver shortage, and as CBS2's Carolyn Gusoff reports, families are struggling to find alternate ways to school.
"At least I managed to get to school. I was lucky. But a lot of other kids, they didn't get that," 12th grader Kyle Buttner said.
Kyle's bus arrived an hour late for his first day of school. For others, the wait continues.
The First Student bus company notified BOCES, the agency that coordinates school services, they're short drivers and couldn't get to 100 students with special needs at five schools.
"We were quite surprised about that, so what we did is we put our team together and we tried to come up with solutions. The bottom line is I can't create bus drivers," Nassau BOCES Superintendent Dr. Robert Dillon said.
After consolidating routes, now 50 students are still without buses, so they're back to remote learning or being driven by parents.
"It's just, like, frustrating because we understand they need bus drivers, but they don't seem to be coming up with solutions," Levittown parent Karen Buttner said.
The culprit is a nationwide school bus driver shortage, worsened in the pandemic.
"School bus drivers were sitting on the sidelines, not getting paid, no health insurance, no 401k, no wages, of course, so you had a mass exodus," said Corey Muirhead, past president of the New York School Bus Contractors Association.
School is back 100% in person, but driver staffing is down 10%.
Muirhead calls it "Amazon-ification" of the commercial driver industry.
"They'd rather set their own schedule, deliver at their leisure, work on a van, not on a big 40-foot school bus with 55 children," he said.
The state has shortened waiting times for road tests.
First Student says it's leveraging all possible outlets to attract drivers, including $5,000 signing bonuses and $25 per hour starting wages for school bus drivers in Nassau County.
The company sent CBS2 the following statement:
"We understand the stress that this puts on students and parents. Being the first week of school, we'll continue to partner with the district to identity route efficiencies. We are always looking for those that want to make a difference in our community and are leveraging all possible outlets to attract drivers (social media, advertising and recruiting initiatives). Because of First Student's dedicated to safety and training, each driver receives more than 40 hours of behind-the-wheel and in-classroom training. First Student also assists drivers in getting their CDL with paid training. The CD licensure process through the state is done in-tandem with training."
The Bus Contractors Association says it will take more than money and benefits to attract new school bus drivers. They want recognition as essential public servants.
BOCES hopes all impacted students will have newly hired drivers within two weeks.
