SOLON, Ohio — For many kids, hopping on the school bus starts and ends their school day.
News 5 has reported on local school districts dealing with bus driver shortages for months.
Solon City Schools is already down drivers and will be down several more at the end of this school year due to retirements.
Leaders said there could be service changes next school year unless they're able to fill positions.
About 4,700 students attend classes in the district, and more than 70% use bussing.
“Students have many teachers every year. They have different teachers. You can have the same bus driver your entire school (career) and they create that bond with your kids,” said Lisa Shirkey, Solon City Schools transportation supervisor.
When Shirkey started with the district in 2017, it had 61 routed buses. It’s down to 44, and it's not fully staffed. It’s forced combined routes and other changes that create disruptions.
"We've had to get incredibly creative in terms of maybe doing double routes where we'll take one set of students to their homes, bring the bus back, fill that bus up again, and then take them home,” said Solon City School Superintendent Fred Bolden.
The situations boil down to longer routes, at times, and students not getting to where they need to be on time.
Bolden is sounding the alarm. He said the nationwide problem is being felt deeply in Ohio.
Watch News 5's report on a school bus driver shortage in Copley Twp:
RELATED: School bus driver shortage could lead to 'drastic changes' in Copley-Fairlawn routes
Bolden said he and others in the district are working aggressively to recruit drivers.
With upcoming retirements, the district must hire six drivers to maintain current staffing levels. Shirkey said she would like to have eight to 10 drivers hired.
If that doesn’t happen, Bolden said service changes are likely.
“We're going to have to decrease the busing that we're doing,” Bolden said. “Many districts have done things like shifting to state minimums for driving. We have tried very hard to avoid that. We know that the safest place for kids to be is on a bus as opposed to parents driving."
District leaders said attracting new hires has become more difficult because those with a commercial driver’s license (CDL), a requirement to drive a school bus, opt for other jobs that pay more and have better hours.
Bolden also thinks the additional specialized training required to drive a school bus drives some people away from the profession.
“If I can get a job that might offer a similar benefits and a similar pay, but I might not have that added responsibility, it's not as enticing of a job,” Bolden said.
To add to the ranks, the district now offers paid training and ride-along experiences for driver candidates.
"So now they get a bird's eye view of this is what it looks like at a pickup and a drop off with students on the bus,” Shirkey said.
The district is also offering increased pay. Next school year, the starting hourly pay is $19.77, with a max of $30.
Bolden said the part-time position comes with individual benefits.
The district also offers dual positions.
“We have the opportunity to have a full-time job with family benefits with a combination of working with food service and bus transportation,” Bolden said.
Planning is underway for the next school year, and various scenarios are being examined. Shirkey said she remains optimistic the district will be able to hire enough drivers to avoid significant service changes.
Anyone interested in becoming a school bus driver can find the application for Solon City Schools here.
