Shortage of bus drivers cited as reason for change
A shortage of bus drivers prompted Aurora school officials to cancel all remaining in-town bus routes for the 2024-25 school year, which begins Aug. 15-16.
In a letter emailed to all district patrons Thursday, Supt. Jody Phillips explained the decision, noting that in-town bus routes have been eliminated “for the foreseeable future.”
“Throughout the summer, we have lost a few bus drivers to retirement, relocation and other reasons,” Phillips explained. “It has been our intention to fill these positions, but unfortunately we have not been able to find any new drivers for the 2024-25 school year.”
Phillips further explained in an ANR interview that the bus driver shortage is a concern that has been growing in recent years.
“We’ve had a few of our bus drivers the last three years who have hung on for us longer than maybe what they’ve wanted,” he said. “They’ve wanted to retire and/or not be working full-time every day, but they’ve been gracious enough to continue to drive for us. This was kind of the year that they made decisions and don’t want to be driving full-time, and/or be retired. On top of that we had a couple of others leave for various reasons, so really what it came down to is how many full-time bus drivers do we have where we can actually carry out routes and guarantee that we will have a route every day.”
That number, Phillips reported, was five, which coincides with the number of drivers needed to help cover the district’s rural bus routes.
“The other backdrop to that is that we are required to provide transportation to students who live four miles or more from school, so our first priority is meeting that requirement,” Phillips said. “Everything else above that is optional and up to the discretion of the district.”
The superintendent noted that the district has six drivers to cover the five rural routes, noting that a couple of other drivers are available to help drive throughout the day, either before school or at noon, helping with transportation for preschool students.
Asked if the change was final, in case prospective drivers would offer their services in light of the announcement, Phillips said the decision has been made.
“We would not be able to get anybody into a bus to drive by the start of the school year if they don’t have their required licensure for driving a bus,” he said. “As of now we don’t have anybody that would be able to do that and be able to start on day one. That’s why the timing of the decision to notify parents was now. We wanted to make sure we gave parents enough time to be able to plan.”
Reaction
Though he said he knew the decision to eliminate in-town routes would be frustrating for some families, Phillips said he has been pleased with the way parents have responded.
“What always impresses me is that the majority of our parents and the majority of our community respond in a very mature and positive manner,” he said. “Some have called with questions. Some have called to say that this is kind of an inconvenience. Some have called to ask what drop-off and pick-up is going to look like at certain schools and how does this all work. Overall, they have responded in a very cordial way and I have to tell you that’s what I like about our community is that they respond very well.”
As for concern with more vehicle traffic adding to the time required to drop off and pick up students before and after school, primarily at the elementary school, Phillips had some suggestions.
“We are going to try to communicate some options that parents have that would not require you to sit in a line in the circle drive for 20 to 30 minutes, one of which could be to park a couple blocks away and meet your kid there,” Phillips said. “Or, the other part is that sometimes we think we have to get there earlier in order to make that process move faster, when in all actuality you can come a little bit later and have much faster pick-up or drop-off just because there’s less traffic at certain times. We will be communicating that so parents have an idea of some things they can do.”
Phillips also noted that he contacted administrators at other school districts of similar size, reporting that the bus driver shortage situation is not unique to Aurora.
“I did reach out to some other districts just to gauge and see what they are doing,” he said. “One district that is similar in size has gone to the four-mile rule and that’s it, so if you live within four miles you get transportation, if you don’t, you don’t. At another district they do pick-up at a certain meeting point, like at a church or designated spot, and they anticipate that those would probably be gone as well in the next year or two.”
Phillips pointed out that the decision is based on the availability of drivers, not finances.
“This was not a financial decision to reduce costs,” he said. “There will be financial implications to it, but it was not made in the interest of budget or what’s looming in the legislature right now.”