Quaker Valley School District busing issues cause concern for parents

Quaker Valley School District parents are concerned about their children showing up tardy to school and returning home late as a result of busing issues.

Ellen Stevenson of Leet presented the school board with a letter from 18 families from Quaker Heights.

She said there have been frequent delays at bus stops and other issues related to a drivers shortage.

“For most of last year and this year, our school district has been dealing with a shortage of bus drivers,” the Osborne Elementary parent told the board at its March 18 meeting.

“I understand the frustration this must cause for the school district as (it) struggles to combine and reroute buses daily. However, the bus route into my neighborhood in the morning continuously, as the elementary route, has to pay the price.”

Stevenson said the bus is often late, which leaves children waiting 30 minutes longer than expected for transportation, and messages informing parents of the disruptions have become commonplace.

Nick O’Neil of Leet said his son, a first grader, is also experiencing the same busing issues.

“He’s getting home at 4:45 (p.m.) some days,” O’Neil said. “He has a GPS watch. I can see he’s arriving at the school at 9 (a.m.), 9:08 (a.m.). He’s been marked absent.

“If my phone rings in the morning before 8 o’clock, I know what it is. I know it’s the district calling to tell me it’s a different bus, it’s whatever. … It’s frustrating. It’s constant. It’s weekly. It’s daily.”

Longtime district bus driver Marcie Vaccaro of Sewickley said the situation is complicated and there are very few remedies to the situation. She talked about challenges of rearranging and combining bus routes and reacting to call-offs.

“I’ve been doubling up quite a bit,” she said. “There’s only so many (routes) that we can double for an area. … We shuffle. We add. We move people. The best part is we get them all to school safely, and home.

”Sorry if we’re late, but we don’t have drivers.”

O’Neil and Stevenson lauded Vaccaro and other drivers for their service and implored the board to do something about transporting students on time.

Board president Jonathan Kuzma let the parents know their voices were heard, and busing will be addressed.

“We do feel this is an important issue,” he said. “This is certainly something you’ll be hearing more about.”

Checking the numbers

Monark Student Transportation is the bus company contracted by Quaker Valley.

District enrollment is 1,818, with 365 students enrolled at Osborne.

District director of finance and operations Scott Antoline said bus stop time problems are not limited to Osborne Elementary neighborhoods.

Quaker Valley typically has 27 scheduled daily bus routes.

However, there are only 23 regular drivers covering those routes with six part-time substitute drivers who have limited availability.

“The bus driver shortage is a major problem that is creating significant challenges to having routine, on-time bus stops and routes for all our schools as well as most throughout the area and nation,” Antoline said via email.

“We have been operating short staffed with longer combined routes from the start of this school year, but daily driver absences then create severe logistical and communications challenges to get students to school in a safe and timely manner, resulting in the service issues and concerns.”

There are about 10 daily bus routes for Osborne, but only nine regular drivers and limited subs to cover those routes.

“The ultimate solution is more drivers,” Antoline said. “Osborne Elementary is feeling the pinch most recently based on which drivers have been off work, but it certainly has gone in cycles for all areas and all schools since the start of school.”

Jobs available

The district has placed advertisements for driver positions in local newspapers, on its website and social media pages as well as in its weekly newsletter.

Antoline said Monark placed a billboard along Route 65 and attempted other recruiting efforts.

The company also posted a “Now Hiring” link on the front page of its website, monarktrans.com.

It promotes free training, competitive wages and benefits, bonus and referral programs as well as other incentives to sign up.

Jobs available include bus drivers, mechanics and bus washers/detailers.

Antoline said Quaker Valley will continue to do all it can to serve district families.

“We understand and share the many frustrations that the bus driver shortage has created with constant bus changes necessary to get all scheduled stops serviced regularly,” he said. “It has affected all schools at different times throughout the year and the current challenge for these particular Osborne routes is not different.

“Recently, the issue has escalated due to multiple drivers that can service these areas being off at the same time. We expect it to subside after spring break but understand that some parents may choose make other transportation arrangements.”

School is out for spring break March 25 through April 1.