A shortage of school bus drivers is causing short tempers among parents in Wheeling Community Consolidated School District 21, where children have been left waiting for transportation.
“The whole bus service system is totally ridiculous,” said Melody Baldwin, a District 21 parent who is upset that it has taken more than an hour for her 7th-grade daughter, Jenna, to get home from Holmes Junior High–a five-minute drive from her home.
National Bus Service, the district’s transportation provider, like other bus services, has had trouble filling jobs with eligible drivers. The jobs remain open, even though National pays $9.75 an hour, plus safety bonuses, and guarantees at least four hours of work a day.
“The shortage causes inconsistency of service, that’s the situation, plain and simple,” said Jim Smith, district manager of National Bus Service. “There’s no way to sugar-coat it.”
District 21 has withheld about $200,000 from the company since the beginning of the school year because of the lateness, according to Supt. Bud DesCarpentrie.
But he said he understands the bus company’s position.
“We’re living in an economy in which part-time workers can choose where they want to work,” DesCarpentrie said. “The Fox River Grove tragedy has given potential drivers pause,” he said, referring to the fatal accident in October 1995, in which seven students died when the school bus they were in was struck by a commuter train.
Yet parents remain frustrated that their children’s education, and possibly their safety, is being compromised.
“I understand that there’s a shortage, and that the labor pool is bad, but we’re going to end up with a tragedy here,” said Barry Goldfedder, whose daughter, Sari, is an 8th grader at Holmes. “It’s bad in itself that the buses are late, but the personnel is so bad, nobody knows the routes, and somebody’s going to end up killed.”
According to Goldfedder, the bus is supposed to pick up his daughter between 8:05 and 8:10 a.m. each day, but the bus often doesn’t arrive until 8:15 or 8:20 a.m. In the afternoon, the bus is supposed to pick up students at school at 3:30 p.m., but often doesn’t get to the school until 4 p.m.
The result, of course, is that many students end up late getting home, which usually sets off panic buttons, with parents calling each other to see if their children are home yet. In the morning, many students end up late for class.
“In fairness, most drivers do a pretty good job,” said Tom Torchedlo, principal at Holmes. “The majority arrive on time. But when one or two arrive late, it’s a problem for those children,” he said, adding that teachers typically don’t delay class.
Arriving late causes many students to panic, according to Baldwin, who says her daughter “turns frantic” when she’s late, trying to figure out what’s she missed, which in turn can aggravate teachers.
But DesCarpentrie said part of the problem is that, increasingly, parents’ preference for bus service has little to do with transportation.
He said parents count on buses to protect their children from dangers, including heavy traffic and abductions. Some students who live within 10 minutes walking distance of their schools also use the buses for sheer convenience.
“The (transportation) system can’t keep up with the expectations of parents,” said DesCarpentrie.
Still, the driver shortage remains. To address it, National has even offered schools a $100 contribution to homeroom groups for helping them fill job openings. But even that doesn’t seem to appease Baldwin.
“I told them, `Don’t make your problem into my job,’ ” Baldwin said. “It’s insulting. It’s like they’re saying, `Let’s get the moms to do our work for us.’ “
Goldfedder said he understands that the district’s hands are tied, but said that their must be a solution somewhere.
“Maybe (the bus company) needs to restructure the pay scale. Maybe we’ll need to pay more, but hey, these are our kids.”
