Looks like the school bus driver shortage has come for our state, with the Rochester Public School District having to send a chunk of its middle school students home early. How is that possible?
Here’s Five Fast Facts About the School Bus Driver Shortage Hitting Minnesota:
- 🚌It’s National - Administrators across the country have seen this coming due to a number of circumstances. It hit most districts in full force in the 2021-2022 school year. It’s made its way to us, now.
- 🏫Missing the Bus - First Student Inc, a school bus service in Rochester, has been aggressively chasing new hires this past summer but it looks like they missed the mark.
- 🎒Short Shift - The Rochester shortage resulted in about 250 students sent home early, freeing up drivers for 15 routes at the end of the school day. Parents wanting their kids to stay the full day were given the option to pick them up.
- 🚸Regular Route - Rochester officials said they don’t anticipate this being a regular occurrence, but I didn’t anticipate losing my hair at 25, so you never know.
- 🤞Loading and Unloading - Federal and local officials are in the process of creating legislation that streamlines the process for hiring bus drivers. They’re calling it the wildly creative Get Our Kids to School Act. Which reminds me: my neighbor is currently working on legislation of his own called the Get Your Kids Off My Lawn Act.
🔥Bottom line: This could spiral out of control quickly and there’s a fairly solid chance it will. A variety of factors are at play here, but in the end, it’s kids and their families who suffer the most. Something’s gotta' give, and hopefully those officials will find a solution fast.
What do you think of the shortage?
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