” Fairfax County Public Schools recently tweeted: “If you can walk with or drive your child (and perhaps a neighbor’s), please do.” The school bus driver shortage will put extra traffic on the road and around elementary and middle schools, especially during drop-off and pick-up times. The lack of enough school bus drivers has triggered what some around the country are calling a “ transportation logistics nightmare. If school buses weren’t rolling, it would be equivalent to adding another ‘17 million cars’ to rush hour traffic during the morning and afternoon commutes.” “Consider this, ‘ school buses save American families about 62 billion miles of driving each year,’ estimates the American School Bus Council. Townsend II, AAA Mid-Atlantic’s Manager of Public and Government Affairs. With schools back in session, with in-person classes, in yet another school year like no other, that number will greatly increase in the wake of the dearth of school bus drivers nationally and regionally,” said John B. “ Prior to the onset of the pandemic, an estimated 21 percent of the total morning traffic was generated by parents driving their kids to school. Montgomery County Public Schools highlights the fact that “MCPS buses travel more than 112,000 miles per day (that’s four and a half times around the equator)!” Reportedly, “Montgomery County Public Schools need to fill more than 100 school bus driver vacancies, or thousands of students won’t have a ride to school.” For the safety of students, and traffic safety’s sake, successful applicants must have a Commercial Driver’s License ( CDL) with both passenger and school bus endorsements. Fairfax County Public Schools ( FCPS) announced: “FCPS, along with surrounding school divisions, is experiencing severe bus driver shortages due to a national and regional driver shortage.” What is more, “The FCPS bus fleet is one of the largest bus fleets in the United States, transporting more than 141,000 students on over 1,600 buses each day.” As a result of the school bus driver shortage, Fairfax County Public Schools is warning parents “there may be delays impacting bus routes across FCPS starting Monday.” “Now, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, shortages have been even more of an issue than ever before.” Back-to-school transportation affects not only school districts, students, and parents, but also other motorists on the roads, warns AAA. Even before the advent of the coronavirus pandemic, nearly 25 percent of school bus drivers admitted “to leaving their current job for a higher paying job,” explains American Bus Sales. The uptick in COVID-19 Delta variant cases is casting a pall on the beginning of the new 2021-2022 academic year and school bus transportation contingencies. It is making the classifieds and the headlines. To wit, a 15-year-old student in Stafford County was struck by a car while trying to get to school “when the school bus reportedly failed to pick her up.” The scarcity of school bus drivers is nationwide in scope. It is raising alarms about overcrowded school buses jammed with pupils, students stranded at school bus stops for hours, bus transportation delays, bus delivery times to schools or bus stops, and safety at bus stops. It is stressing out students and their parents, who are forming carpools to get their children to school on time. C. (Monday, August 23, 2021) ––As the new school year dawns, school districts across the Washington metro area are grappling with a school bus driver shortage.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |