Why Friday night high school football is impacted by a bus driver shortage

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NACOGDOCHES — East Texas cities come to life on fall Friday nights when followers deck out in school colours fill stadiums to cheer on their high school football group. Marching bands, cheerleaders and drill groups ignite aggressive spirits when decades-old rivalries kick off.

So when a shortage of bus drivers prevented Nacogdoches High School from transporting these scholar teams to an away football recreation in Titus County this month, the city was disheartened.

“The atmosphere is really not the same without the band and drill team there, playing and making noise for the team,” mentioned Adrian Belista, a junior at Nacogdoches High and drum main for the band. “It was kind of like a missing piece.”

Belista and his 205 band mates ended up placing on a efficiency at their dwelling Dragon Stadium that mid-October Friday night whereas the football group performed their recreation at Mount Pleasant — about a two-and-a half-hour bus journey — with out their traditional fandom or their pre-game struggle tune.

Across the state, school districts are improvising amid a nationwide shortage of bus drivers. The concern is not new, school district officers mentioned, however it has been exacerbated over the previous few months by a labor crisis, fueled by such components because the COVID-19 pandemic, little one care challenges and a slowdown in immigration.

In a February 2022 nationwide survey from the American Public Transportation Association, 71% of transit companies reported that they’ve needed to minimize or delay service due to employee shortfalls.

The drawback is heightened in sprawling rural areas akin to East Texas, the place commutes are typically longer and labor is already in brief provide.

“Part of the problem is that it’s not just us looking for help, but down the road Pilgrim’s Pride is looking for drivers at their processing plant, and Tyson [Foods] in Center is looking for help,” mentioned Les Linebarger, spokesperson for the Nacogdoches school district, which runs about 40 day by day bus routes. “We are all competing for that same small labor pool.”

The district reached out to a number of constitution bus corporations to assist transport college students to the latest football recreation, however they have been all booked.

Farther north in Longview, the school district has stuffed vacant driver roles over the previous few weeks. But with out subs or alternate drivers, the district continues to run into issues at any time when a driver calls in sick. When that occurred in late October, the district mixed two bus routes, putting extra youngsters than traditional on a single yellow bus.

Wayne Guidry, who serves as superintendent of enterprise, transportation and expertise, wasn’t stunned when a struggle broke out between college students on the bus that day.

“Ninety-eight percent of our problems come from kids having to be combined on buses,” Guidry mentioned. “That’s when all the incidents like this happen.”

Districts have tried to fight the driver shortage by elevating pay charges for bus drivers and by holding job festivals.

In Tyler, the school district’s communication group ran a focused recruitment marketing campaign final 12 months, placing slogans like “Parents Do This for Free; We’ll Pay You’” on the edges of buses.

The Tyler school district additionally pays for the coaching drivers are required to finish earlier than taking the check for a business driver’s license. Potential workers are employed as bus driver trainees at $12 an hour and get their business learner’s allow whereas taking the self-paced class. The class often takes about two to 3 weeks to finish, in response to the district’s spokesperson, Jennifer Hines. She mentioned this system has helped the district with its 154 day by day routes, however they’re nonetheless brief by eight drivers. Some district leaders mentioned that new federal coaching necessities for bus drivers are extreme and make it too laborious to rent new workers.

The U.S. Department of Transportation units baseline coaching necessities for entry-level drivers. A new training requirement was put in place in February, requiring drivers to take a class earlier than taking the CDL check for a allow. Those courses should be taken via an entity permitted by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and might take two to 3 weeks and value a whole bunch of {dollars}.

“It’s kind of a double-edged sword,” Linebarger mentioned. “Of course we want properly trained drivers and we want safe drivers, but on the other hand if it’s more difficult to become licensed, that’s going to affect your numbers.”