Schools on the island need bus drivers

Schools on the island are experiencing a shortage of bus personnel and are urgently looking to hire drivers and monitors for the school year.

In a letter to families, Superintendent Matt D’Andrea wrote that schools across the country are experiencing a shortage of bus drivers and Martha’s Vineyard Public Schools (MVPS) are feeling the impact. “As a result, we are very busy in our transport department,” D’Andrea wrote in the letter. “In addition, finding replacements or substitutes for pilots and monitors is extremely difficult.”

D’Andrea wrote that the school system was actively looking to recruit new drivers, but asked for parents’ patience and understanding if bus lines are negatively affected by the shortage.

“School administrators will do everything possible to inform families when a bus line is late or delayed,” he wrote.

In a separate telephone conversation, D’Andrea told The Times that it has historically been difficult to recruit qualified transport personnel on the island simply because of inaccessibility; but it’s not just bus drivers who are hard to find.

Due to the struggle to find staff, D’Andrea said, some bus trips are combined and drivers are doubling their trips for the day to accommodate different routes.

“So we’ve covered everything and things are going well, but we definitely need more people. Routes can be delayed, or we may have to have a driver run two runs if we cannot cover a route because someone was absent, ”explained D’Andrea.

“It’s always been difficult, just because we’re on an island. It’s not just bus drivers who are often hard to find, it’s teachers and other school staff, depending on the level of certification we’re looking to hire, ”D’Andrea said.

But this year marks a significant increase in the inability of schools to find and specifically train bus drivers and instructors.

D’Andrea noted that many school districts off the island face similar challenges, and the Education Department has been in contact with schools to offer help in any way they can. “It seems like a challenge statewide, if not nationwide, to find drivers,” D’Andrea said.

Right now, MVPS has around 40 employees in its transportation departments – enough to cover trips, D’Andrea said, but with little to no leeway if a driver is on vacation or on sick leave. “We don’t have a supplement. We have to train people and prepare them, ”he said.

D’Andrea said he could not easily identify the reason for the unprecedented shortage, although he suggested it could potentially be a confluence of concerns related to COVID, the current economic environment and education. involved in the roles of bus driver.

But he pointed out that other sectors of the workforce are also experiencing staff shortages; in particular restaurants, hotels and retail businesses.

Schools are considering offering incentives to transportation workers, although they currently do not. “It’s something that we are looking at,” D’Andrea said.

Despite the problem, D’Andrea said the safety of the island’s school bus staff and students is paramount and that focus will not change.

“I know it is difficult and we don’t want to disturb the parents, but safety is always our priority, so we are not compromising that in any way,” he said.