Within the past two months, two student transportation issues have repeatedly surfaced in the news — overcrowded school buses and bus driver shortages — and it appears they are linked in certain areas from the Southwest to the East Coast.
A student rider at North East Independent School District in San Antonio, Texas recently took matters into his own hands, literally, by videotaping the crowded conditions of his school bus. The footage shows teenagers packed into a yellow bus, with many of them out of their seats and standing in the aisles.
District officials contend the bus was not in motion when the student filmed its interior. When Anita Sioco saw the widely circulated video on Facebook, she immediately recognized her son and checked with him on its accuracy. He told her that overcrowding has been his “reality” since middle school.
Now, other parents say they are finding alternative transportation because of the video, according to KENS-5. The news outlet stated that NEISD records showed the bus driver did report that afternoon’s heavier load of passengers to his supervisors.
District spokesperson Aubrey Chancellor confirmed that on the day in question the bus transported approximately 60 students, and she noted the capacity is technically 72 .
“There are three kids to a seat. At least 10 kids standing up. There are kids in the middle aisle, sitting down. I don’t know how that can be safe,” said Sioco.
Texas Education Code does not permit students to stand on a school bus or passenger van that is in motion.
In the Transportation Department’s most recent edition of NEISD Wheels, a columnist refers to a “continuous shortage of drivers, although it is not as drastic as the last two years.” Calls to that department were not returned at press time.
One state away, Albuquerque Public Schools is still experiencing bus overcrowding six weeks into the school year, according to a local mother who is concerned about the safety of her two daughters and niece. Leah Gurule saw the video taken by her niece (pictured, above), which shows students packed in “like sardines,” standing in the aisles and sitting on each other’s laps. Like Texas, New Mexico mandates that “all students shall be seated while the bus is in motion.”
APS has reportedly been wrestling with a bus driver shortage since August. Now the district said it is helping bus contractors to recruit driver by offering training classes for those interested in driving school buses.
After viewing the video, APS released the following statement: “The APS Transportation Department had not been informed of a crowding issue with regard to this particular bus. Now, they will investigate. Until this shortage is alleviated, we expect that there will be issues with crowding on buses.”
Certain Laws More Lenient
Some students in Columbia County, Georgia, also say they’re usually forced to stand on their jam-packed school buses, and they have the photos to prove it (see photo, at left). Georgia law states that school buses can carry up to 66 student passengers, but allows exceptions, like at the beginning of the school year when transportation departments are still working out kinks in the routing. In one case, a school bus reportedly held up to 79 students.
It’s easy to do the math but not so easy to solve the problem: This year Columbia County saw its enrollment grow while its staff of bus drivers dwindled due to resignations and retirements.
“When we need X amount of people and we have fewer than that, that becomes the problem and we have to shift those students to other buses,” said Dewayne Porter, transportation director.
District officials told News 12 they are working on having the same bus carry two separate loads of students in order to alleviate overcrowding as well as lengthy waits for late buses.
In Chesterfield County, Virginia, both parents and students are worried about overcrowded buses. Thomas Dale High School freshman Amiya Cox said she was told the school district is experiencing a shortage of bus drivers.
Chesterfield County Schools spokesperson Shawn Smith said they are working with parents to address transportation issues but would not confirm the driver shortage, saying only that, “as with other positions like math and science teachers, we are continuously recruiting for bus driver positions.”
Smith added that student safety is the district’s top priority and that state law does permit passengers to stand on the bus.
Below is the full statement from Smith:
“The safety and security of our students is a top priority and at the beginning of each school year we will make adjustments to routes as needed and as quickly as possible. These decisions take into account the effect that changes to one route then have on other routes. We have about 10,000 bus stops and over 1,000 bus routes. While state law does allow standing on the bus, we want to ensure that each child has a safe and comfortable seat on the bus when riding to and from school. State law allows for school divisions to make changes within the first 30 days but we are making them as quickly as possible, again taking into account the effect that changes to one route then have on other routes.”
