Norwin’s bus transportation contractor, First Student, is faced with a driver shortage because of retirements and a rash of illnesses, forcing the district to scramble to get some students to school.
“We communicate with First Student throughout each day to make and adjust plans to ensure that the driver shortage impacts students and families to the minimum extent possible,” Superintendent Natalie McCracken said.
The district has acted to ease the impact of the driver shortage by consolidating bus routes and making daily adjustments to bus routes to ensure service for the maximum number of students, McCracken said. First Student may need to adjust its daily transportation schedules as a result of the driver shortage, she said.
Norwin did consolidate its transportation runs at the beginning of the school year to increase capacity and eliminate any unnecessary routes to proactively plan transportation for this school year, McCracken said.
“We’ve been letting people know what would happen. We’ve been very proactive,” she said following the school board meeting Monday.
First Student has been very cooperative in this matter, McCracken said.
The driver shortage is not isolated to Norwin and is a pervasive concern for many local districts, McCracken said
“We are actively recruiting drivers in the area and offering competitive pay and benefits to strengthen staffing for Norwin,” First Student said in a statement.
In an effort to fill the shortage of drivers, Cincinnati-based First Student is offering drivers a signing bonus of up to $7,500 and a starting wage of $22.20 an hour for a 25-hour guaranteed workweek, according to its advertisement. Prospective drivers will be paid while undergoing training and will have their costs covered while earning their state-required commercial driver’s license and will be eligible for bonuses.
First Student received some interest last week from prospective candidates for bus driving positions, McCracken said.
Interested applicants can learn more and apply at workatfirst.com.
“We are encouraged by recent interest from candidates,” First Student said.
