What’s happening with CPS?
CPS is giving out Ventra cards due to a bus driver shortage. The school year just started and getting to school will be a problem for multiple thousand students.
Roughly half the bus drivers are ready for the 17,000 or more students who are being bused to school. But there is a shine of hope for some 7,000 priority students who either have support needs or are homeless have confirmed transport.
“It was a difficult choice to transport only the vulnerable students,” a CPS Chief said. This isn’t just a problem happening in Chicago, it’s a problem in school districts all over America.
The bus drivers are mainly retirees, but most haven’t gone back to driving since COVID-19. Even with CPS raising average pay from $20 to $25 an hour, it wasn’t enough to meet the required amount of drivers.
CPS is giving those who qualify to be bused, but those who don’t pay a monthly pay of up to $500 for their transportation. But others can receive Ventra cards for public transportation.
Charles Mayfield, a CPS chief, stated if we don’t have your transportation request, you won’t be a part of the route that day, but you will be given $25 daily until you get routed.
More about the problem.
This has been a problem for several years, but now the problem has grown and is more significant than it was before the pandemic.
But this has increased steadily across the whole country. And there are many reasons that add to it. We are glad CPS is providing ventra cards as a temporary solution said an executive director and CEO of NAPT.
The event was so impactful that in Kentucky, Jefferson County Public Schools Superintendent Marty Pollio decided to close schools for the week as officials try to find a way to avoid this disaster.
One of the significant factors is an ever-changing workforce with part-time employment not cutting it.
Factors of the shortage of school bus drivers.
“School bus driving used to be a mainly female job with ages ranging from 25 to 50. There were also retirees that were doing school driving as a retirement job,” stated Don DeVivo.
But the driver workforce is turning more toward young males. That shows another problem. The commercial driver’s license regulations.
The school bus job is being used as a way to get a CDL and experience with driving. This shows why more young males are entering the school bus job for CDL driving, but they are not staying long.
These young males are taking jobs that are full time and have better pay and overall benefit. With the average school bus driver making only around $40,000 a year, which is when it’s full time, it’s easy to see why these young males are taking different jobs.
In 2022 the state school transportation report it is found around 88 percent of school district leaders and experts said the bus shortages made an impact on their operations.
Additionally, the low pay and now an upcoming problem that both teachers and drivers face misbehaving students and it only increased since the end of the pandemic and remote learning. With all these factors, it shows why there is a bus driver shortage.
During the pandemic, some schools kept bus drivers employed while others shut down.
As we are in the post-pandemic time, the struggle of shifting back to “regular” has grown.
By Samuel Cruz
Sources:
CBS NEW CHICAGO: CPS gives families free Ventra cards, citing bus driver shortage
WTTW News: Bus Driver Shortage Leaves Many CPS Parents, Students in Limbo
Featured and Top Image Courtesy of Tony Webster Flickr Page–Creative Commons License
Inset Image Courtesy of Stazi Kolosova Flickr Page–Creative Commons License
