School system placed several want ads throughout region
St. Charles Parish Public Schools is facing continued struggles in getting replacement bus drivers to sign on with the school system.
While the lack of applicants for substitute bus drivers may be a good sign that the economy has picked up, it could also mean a delay in pickup and drop-off times for local students.
Despite a campaign that included placing want ads in several local newspapers and online, school system officials say they didn’t receive a single successful applicant for the many open positions.
Part of the problem, according to Patrick O’Malley, the school’s administrator of ancillary services, is that the qualifications to become a school bus driver – even a substitute one – are high.
The requirements for the position include a commercial driver’s license (CDL), a safe driving record for three years and satisfactory completion of a physical examination. In addition, bus drivers must undergo a pre-service training course, which includes classroom instruction of 30 hours and 10 hours of bus training.
In St. Charles Parish Public Schools there is also a lack of driver-trainers who can provide assistance in developing new bus drivers, which O’Malley said has been hindered by scheduling conflicts with the state.
“Driver-trainers are required to be certified by the state Department of Education. I believe they held one session to certify more trainers in the spring in Lake Charles that required two or three days, so you complicate things to send four drivers out on a pre-holiday season. We need those drivers driving,” he said.
Substitute drivers receive an hourly wage of $17.84 and work an estimated four and a half hours a day when needed.
O’Malley said becoming a substitute bus driver is a good way for candidates to get their foot in the door to become full-time drivers.
“It is not uncommon that our substitutes roll into the full-time vacancies, but by that time they are kind of tried and true, have a great record and they know what they are getting into,” he said.
Full-time drivers receive all benefits provided to other school system employees, including health insurance and retirement.
Those interested in becoming substitute bus drivers can apply online at www.stcharles.k12.la.us/jobs.cfm.
The lack of qualified bus drivers is only one problem school transportation officials are facing this year. Following the death of a 6-year-old student in Orleans Parish who was run over by a car while he was crossing a busy street, Act 654 passed in the 2014 Regular Legislative Session and requires all buses to drop students off in areas where they do not have to cross any lanes of traffic. This would force some buses to cover twice as much ground by driving down both sides of the street when unloading passengers.
While the new law was initially aimed at densely traveled roads in urban areas, an amendment extended it to all roads. O’Malley has predicted that the amendment will increase transportation costs and may even require the purchase of new school buses and force the school system to hire more full-time bus drivers.
In addition to requiring students be dropped off and picked up in areas where they do not have to cross the road, the act stipulates that pickups and drop-offs cannot occur on state highways, such as River Road, Paul Maillard Road or Barton Avenue in Luling. Several students live directly on those highways.
O’Malley said while the law has good intentions, its practical application in parishes such as St. Charles is questionable.
Due to the controversy surrounding the law, Louisiana Attorney General James “Buddy” Caldwell provided an emergency opinion that delayed the law’s implementation on Aug. 1 and only mandated that schools must begin planning for such changes in their transportation schedules.
O’Malley said the school system already has a list of streets students are not allowed to cross over as well as several other safety measures the bus drivers follow.
“We have a list of no cross streets, so we have been ahead of the curve,” he said.
However, the school district must put together a plan to come into compliance with the state law and are currently working to do so.
“This semester we’ll kick into drafting the plan. We’ll gather data, we’ll identify areas of non-compliance and the resources needed to accomplish that,” O’Malley said. “We do need some time that the attorney general has allowed to put together a draft plan, and some time in the spring we’ll present that to the board.”
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