School transportation challenges of late can be summed up in three words: bus driver shortage.
Headlines from across the nation scream about the lack of qualified applicants and resulting service issues from a school bus driver shortage that is as bad or worse than it has been in recent memory. Almost to a tee, readers at school districts, private bus companies and state agencies respond that the driver shortage is the biggest current challenge to operations.
But an Arizona school district stood out in a recent survey of transportation directors and supervisors as one of the few districts nationwide to have enough school bus drivers. So we reached out to obtain more information from Transportation Director Danielle Danielak at Agua Fria Union High School District in Avondale, located about 25 miles west of Phoenix.
“We were very fortunate with no turn over this year, with the exception of one driver retiring,” she said.
While technically at full staff, Danielak added that the district did recently approve two more hires as the district continues to grow. The area has traditionally consisted of farmland, but that began to change a couple of decades ago as the Phoenix metro area expanded. Now it is a growing suburbs.
Danielak told STN that good morale goes a long way toward attracting new drivers and retaining existing ones. The district employs about 50 school bus drivers for its fleet of 49 buses.
“We have a great staff, and although it is a lot of work on the office staff, we do our best to schedule fun safety meetings, provide waters on hot days, bake sales, monthly lunches such as a Taco bar, etc.” she said. “Don’t get me wrong, we have the usual issues for a bus barn, but we have an open door policy that keeps issues to a minimum.”
The district also takes a cooperative and different approach to how it assigns bus drivers.
“We go by hours when assigning trips. We don’t want one employee in major (overtime) due to trips when there are drivers coming in at 25 hours for the week,” she added. “We assign to spread the wealth, that way no one is in competition.”
Editor’s Note: STN is on the lookout for more examples of school districts and bus companies that are bucking the trend of driver shortages, instead operating at full staff. Email us or comment via Facebook or Linkedin.
