- #DOUBLE DECKER DRIVING SCHOOL 2016 HOW TO#
- #DOUBLE DECKER DRIVING SCHOOL 2016 DRIVERS#
- #DOUBLE DECKER DRIVING SCHOOL 2016 DRIVER#
"Now that teachers will be driving buses, they will see the level of responsibility that comes with the job." A National Dilemma
#DOUBLE DECKER DRIVING SCHOOL 2016 DRIVERS#
"We are one team and our drivers need to be respected the same as everyone else," she says. O'Casey recalls that some principals in the past did not allow bus drivers to use school restrooms. "Drivers having to do a double-run do not always get enough notice, which interferes with scheduled restroom breaks." "There is a lack of communication coming from some officials that could be improved," she says.
#DOUBLE DECKER DRIVING SCHOOL 2016 HOW TO#
O'Casey points out that administrators do not always communicate as well as they could when it comes to informing drivers about having to drive a second route and as well as other last-minute route changes.īus driver/trainer Laura Landis instructs teachers (left to right) Kevin Loughery, Ryan Wicka, Shannon Parker, Yonika Powell, and Sharon Harrison on how to inspect the exterior of a bus. “We need to fix the all-around problem, which involves paying regular drivers a living wage and allowing them the respect they deserve." “The general idea is that we have a shortage of bus drivers,” she says. However, O'Casey stresses that the new plan should be considered only a “Band-Aid solution.” "Our regular drivers are not at all threatened by the new drivers," says O'Casey.
#DOUBLE DECKER DRIVING SCHOOL 2016 DRIVER#
“They get to build better relationships with their students, earn extra pay, and work closer with their colleagues in the transportation department.” Temporary SolutionĪccording to PWEA President Riley O’Casey, transportation service members welcomed the news about hiring, in a sense, substitute drivers to help alleviate the driver shortage, particularly when it comes to curtailing double-runs. “The teachers I’ve spoken with see it as a win-win,” says Boynton, a member of PWEA, which includes 3,500 teachers, administrators, and education support professionals ( ESP). The response by teachers was better than expected, according to Parkside Principal Mary Jane Boynton. “Teachers will be assigned routes that allow them ample time to be in their classrooms before first bell,” says Landis, a member of the Prince William Education Association ( PWEA). The bus gig for teachers would be voluntary and pay $18.50 an hour on top of their regular salary. At a meeting last fall, they agreed to invite teachers to get licensed and start running routes. With the need for more drivers to enlist at a moment’s notice, Parkside administrators and transportation service workers got together and decided to try a new approach: develop drivers from within. “Sometimes, trainers will take the day’s run since we are licensed.” “When that happens, we have to ask some drivers to do double-runs,” says Laura Landis, a bus driver, trainer and recruiter for Prince William County Public Schools, where Parkside is located. It’s the norm. At Parkside Middle School in Manassas, Va., about three of the school’s 31 drivers can be absent on any given day. This is not unusual for school transportation departments across the nation. Crowded buses and student tardiness is the result. If a school district is short of backup drivers, other drivers end up running two routes, delaying pick-ups. When a school bus driver calls in sick, someone has to pick up their route in a hurry.