LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Kentucky’s largest school district, Jefferson County Public Schools, is hiring bus drivers.
For the last three years, Da’Vice Woods has been a JCPS bus driver.
“I love it. I’m able to deal with a different variety of people. Kids and adult-wise. I’ve been able to go from learning how to get my CDL (commercial driver’s license) and then, now I’m a CDL trainer.” said Woods.
JCPS has made significant changes to transportation. Rob Fulk, the district’s chief operating officer said they’ve addressed bus driver compensation, working conditions and climate and culture. He said he feels they have improved work-life balance.
They’ve returned to mirroring, which means, for most runs, a bus driver drives the same students in the morning that they drive home in the afternoon.
In its continuing efforts to improve, the district has put out several bus driver surveys. They meet often with the Teamsters Local 783 union and listen to feedback.
“What we’ve managed to see this year is we obviously had the issue last year where students were coming to school late, students were getting home significantly late and we don’t see that this year. The feedback we’ve received from our schools, from our constituency, is they’re seeing improved service and we’re really proud of our drivers and we’re really proud of our transportation division for the work that they’ve done,” said Fulk.
Now, Fulk said they are seeing a positive trend in bus driver recruiting.
Right now, the district has 604 bus drivers and JCPS is recruiting to hire more.
Fulk explained, “I will literally take anyone who wants to come and try their hand at being a bus driver. We will not turn anyone away. Another 100 would be great, another 200 would be great. If we could get to the point where we were at 900 as years past, we would have some of the best service nationwide.”
According to the Economic Policy Institute, school districts across the country are dealing with a nationwide bus driver shortage.
JCPS says average salary for drivers is around $55,000. JCPS is offering a $150 sign-on bonus.
“When we talk about our hiring bonuses, one of the things I think people also need to know is if you’re a CDL driver out there and you come to us, we’ll give you $2,000 after 90 days as a signing bonus. If you’re a CDL driver with an S-Class endorsement, meaning you have the school bus transport endorsement, we’ll give $4,000,” said Fulk.
Woods said, “If you feel that you want to do it, and you love kids, and you can learn to understand different people and be around different people every day, then I say do it!”
She’s gonna keep making the wheels on the bus go round-and-round for years to come.
Fulk said he feels like they’re in a far better place today than they were this time last year or the year before that.