Even in this era of big trucks and sport utility vehicles, there’s still something daunting about driving a school bus. It’s the size, sure, but also the knowledge that you’re carting around a bunch of children. There’s little margin for error driving; there’s even less when it’s a school bus. It really does take a special kind of person to drive one.
And those people are becoming harder and harder to come by.
Driver shortages have persisted since school districts resumed in-person learning after the COVID-19 pandemic, and that’s led some districts in Northeast Ohio to get creative in hiring drivers. Avon Lake, Brunswick and Highland school districts have all offered a chance to drive a school bus. Avon Lake Transportation Supervisor Sue Cole says the idea came from the similar events in the area.
“There are a lot of people who say, ‘I don’t think I could drive a school bus,’” Cole says. “I tell them it’s not as hard as you think.”
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But it’s very easy to sit in the driver’s seat and feel intimidated. The familiar manual handle to open and close the door has been phased out following repetitive stress injuries. And there’s an array of buttons on the dashboard that take some getting used to, including how to turn on the flashing lights, which automatically opens the doors.
It’s an automatic transmission, so you don’t have to know how to drive manual. All in all, it’s not a particularly terrifying experience — as long as you’re moving forward. Going in
reverse can be tense.
Ned Lauver, director of operations for Avon Lake Schools, says there are 28 routes covered daily by the district — and they are mostly covered, but he knows that makes the district lucky in terms of a shortage.
“We’re really only short with substitutes,” he says. “But that means we have mechanics and administrators driving, and that makes us short in the garage. But that still makes us luckier than a lot of other districts.”
Cole noted that people think they need a commercial driver’s license to drive the nearly 40-foot machine. That’s true, but they need a Class B CDL. Tractor-trailers require a Class A CDL. Buses, dump trucks and other large vehicles that don’t carry a trailer require the easier-to-obtain Class B.
But Avon Lake offers training to hires, Cole says, and when they emerge, they’ll have their Class B CDL as well as their Ohio Department of Education certification to be a district school bus driver.
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