A school bus parked in a lot on Portland Road in Kennebunk advertises job openings for bus drivers, bus aides and a mechanic. Derek Davis/Staff Photographer
Southern Maine school districts have increased pay and gotten creative with initiatives to attract bus drivers this fall.
While some efforts – like parking a bus with a flashy “Help Wanted” banner near a busy intersection – have worked, districts say they still face persistent driver vacancies because of lengthy training requirements, underqualified applicants and an overall lack of interest.
Maine Regional School Unit 21, which includes Arundel, Kennebunk and Kennebunkport, will “just barely” cover its regular routes, said transportation manager Chris Pasciuto. The district cited its new, competitive hourly pay – which starts at $24.97 and goes up to $30.59 – but it’s still lacking about a dozen drivers.
“We’re really scraping things together, just to make sure that we can provide the highest level of transportation to the community,” Pasciuto said.
RSU 21’s funding allows for 33 full-time drivers, 30 of whom cover daily routes, and three utility drivers, who float between buses. Right now, the district has 21 drivers. Four substitute drivers are filling in full-time while three new drivers are being trained, a process that takes about three months.
The district also hires bus aides, or monitors, who help manage the students on the bus, with a pay of $19.81 per hour to $20.82.
The buses travel more than 2,000 miles a day in all and serve about 2,300 students, Pasciuto said. The district needed to consolidate some routes to make up for the driver shortage, which meant four routes were eliminated. Now, some students have to walk farther to their pickup location or have a longer bus ride, Pasciuto said.
“Every day, we’re coming up with creative solutions to make sure we maximize the amount of students we carry per day with the limited resources that we have,” he said.
Pasciuto also serves on the Maine Association for Pupil Transportation, a nonprofit association of transportation supervisors across the state. He said that after talking with other transportation workers, he’s noticed that some deterrents for school bus driver applicants are the early hours, the break in the middle of the day and the “rigorous” background check.
The district’s higher pay, which was negotiated by the employees union last April, has been a significant part of the advertising strategy, resulting in a “steady stream” of applications, RSU 21 spokesperson Matt Shinberg said. But the widespread need and constant competition with other schools still makes it difficult.
One of the most helpful tools has been a bus with a banner advertising the open positions, parked along Route 1 near a shopping center in Kennebunk, Shinberg said.
Maine School Administrative District 6, known as Bonny Eagle, also used this strategy, but it relies more on word-of-mouth to recruit applicants, said superintendent Clay Gleason. The district, which is one of the largest school systems in the state, covers about 800,000 miles in bus routes yearly between Buxton, Hollis, Limington, Standish and Frye Island.
This fall, all of the routes are covered and the transportation department is almost fully staffed for the first time in years because of newly negotiated higher wages, which are at least 10% higher than the old rates, Gleason said.
The hourly pay starts at $24.50 and goes up to $28.22 for someone with 25 years of experience. For bus aides, the pay ranges from $18 per hour to $21.72.
“Transportation is a big issue for us out here, being quite rural,” he said. “Paying someone with a specialized license a fair wage has worked. It’s helped us keep our drivers, keep them from leaving and going to other places or other industries. And we’ve actually been able to attract a few drivers from some other districts.”
The district still needs a few spare drivers to cover routes when the full-time staff are out, Gleason said, and it’s difficult to recruit substitute positions because people want steady work.
If applicants don’t have a commercial driver’s license, Gleason said, the district will train them and let them work as a bus aide until they get their license.
“That has done well, to bring in people with no experience, get them licensed and not have to pay for it themselves,” he said.
Portland Public Schools advertises its year-round positions with guaranteed hours and benefits, said Sarah Warren, the district’s senior executive director of strategy.
She said the transportation team is “staffed up” with 23 drivers, 11 bus aides and five van drivers and has three driver vacancies. This year, the hourly rates for bus drivers start at $21.33 and go up to $28.08, according to the contract effective July 2023 to June of 2026.
A priority for the schools’ budget this year was adding more positions to eliminate the costs of contracting with private bus companies like Custom Coach and VIP Charter Bus Company to cover daily routes.
“Because of our strategic decision to add positions, we’re on track to be better staffed than we were (in previous years),” Warren said.
Last year, one route was fully contracted, so adding more drivers this year eliminated that need, Warren said.
The Portland schools still use some private busing for after-school events such as sports. And they still maintain their partnership with the Greater Portland Metro system to bring all high school students to class with a free bus pass. For students who live on the islands, Portland Public Schools also has a partnership with Casco Bay Lines.
To bring in applicants, Warren said, the district initiated a hiring bonus, referral bonus, advertised on social media and hung banners in front of the transportation office and King Middle School.
But overall, she said, Maine has a “limited pool” of qualified applicants with a commercial driver’s license and endorsement. In the future, the district will partner with Portland’s adult education program to “build a stronger pipeline” of new, qualified drivers.
“I have deep respect and appreciation for our bus drivers and assistants, because I think it’s one of the toughest jobs in the school district,” Warren said. “Especially when you’re driving in a place like Portland, where the streets are narrow – please pay attention to the lights on the school busses … respect the flashing lights.”
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Publish date : 2024-09-02 13:00:00
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