SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – Regular school bus route cancellations left many South Burlington families in a lurch last year. This year, it appears the bus driver shortage is even worse.
As the South Burlington School District cautions families of more delays, they say they’re still rolling out all the stops to get kids to school.
South Burlington mom Marie Lallemand spent last year on constant alert for the dreaded message that her children’s bus route was canceled.
“Having multiple children, three different schools– elementary, middle and high– three different starts and they have activities like band where they start earlier… whatever it is, it’s a disaster,” said Lallemand.
Ongoing bus driver shortages across the state have left many parents on driver duty and kids out of classrooms.
The district had 20 bus drivers pre-pandemic. Now they’re down to 12.
South Burlington Director of Operations Jean-Marie Clark worries that will mean more route cancellations this year.
“As a parent myself, I understand that’s a tough thing,” she said, “we, unfortunately, feel like we’re in a worse position right now than we were in June.”
Feeling the pressure, the district just announced a pay raise for all bus drivers. Drivers in training to get licensed now make $33 an hour, a $13 increase. Full-time drivers with the district for at least a year are seeing a big boost too, making nearly $40 an hour or more depending on their tenure.
“We recognized that we needed to raise our pay rates to the level of our neighbors if we want to be competitive. We don’t want to lose any more drivers,” said Clark.
Thomas Kirkpatrick was one of those drivers lost to another district. Years ago, he left South Burlington for a gig at Champlain Valley Union.
“I loved it here, however, I was offered more of a higher wage, a lot more, and that was extremely hard to turn down,” said Kirkpatrick.
Eventually, Kirkpatrick was offered more at South Burlington and he returned.
“I’m here permanently until they tell me I can’t drive a bus anymore,” he said.
The district says it’s scheduling out bus cancellations this year in hopes of giving parents enough time to plan alternative rides.
As for drivers, Clark says she hopes the pay raise entices more people like Kirkpatrick to apply or stick with the district for the long haul.
“In any business, the grass frequently seems greener on the other side. So we’re hoping that our grass looks really green right now,” said Clark.
The district says it’s also considering what they call a “sweeper bus” to pick up kids whose regular rides are canceled.