Bowling Green City Schools will offer a sign-on bonus to bus drivers in an attempt to be fully staffed by the start of the school year and return to the 1-mile radius for transportation.
After a three-hour executive session Monday, the board of education unanimously agreed to offer a $2,000 bonus to new drivers.
It will be paid over the course of a year.
Toby Snow, director of transportation, said current drivers do not qualify for the bonus.
Snow said that if the district can find two more drivers it would be able to return to the 2-mile limit.
“We’re in an emergency situation,” said board member Ryan Myers. “We find ourselves where we have to take drastic measures.”
The bus driver shortage continues to grow, not only in Bowling Green but in Wood County, said board President Jill Carr.
During the lengthy closed-door discussion, board members discussed the best way to resolve the issue, she said.
“In an effort to address the shortage of bus drivers, a sign-on bonus will be offered to successful candidates,” Carr said.
“This is clearly a massive, massive issue,” Myers said.
The hardship put on families with the move to the 1-mile radius for transportation was at the forefront of their discussions, Myers said.
Due to a lack of bus drivers, the school board in July cut its transportation for elementary students, to only provide busing if a child lives beyond 2 miles of their school.
The previous policy was 1 mile for grades kindergarten to five. Grades six-12 continue to be 2 miles.
Lots of ideas were thrown around to try to alleviate the problem, Myers said.
“We’re trying to do what we can to help those problems and take that busing back to 1 mile,” Myers said. “This is going to be our attempt right now with what we can do to make that happen.”
Board member Tracy Hovest said that once the district is fully staffed with drivers, they will return to the 1-mile transportation radius.
“We’re very concerned,” said board member Ginny Stewart. “We want kids in the classrooms. But we are not an isolated district in dealing with this. … We’re hoping this helps.
“We’ve explored everything we could possibly explore,” Stewart said.
Superintendent Francis Scruci had said at the July meeting that attendance dropped when the district started canceling bus routes due to a lack of drivers.
The goal is to return to the 2-mile transportation radius, Myers said.
“At the end of the day, we don’t have the people,” Myers said.
Snow said he has received 15 applications for drivers, but only five have scheduled an interview.
The remaining 10 “either don’t answer the phone or it goes straight to voicemail,” he said.
A former driver has returned and two people – who applied on the district’s website – have started the process.
“I’m hoping,” Snow said.
He said it will take three to four months to get them trained.
The pay of $17.64 in the third lowest in Wood County, but that doesn’t matter when districts paying in excess of $20 also are having a difficult time finding drivers, said Human Resources Director Dawn Dazell.
“There’s a shortage of drivers,” she said.
