The groups are circulating a petition, Reclaim Our Time, directed at Metro Schools, which asks for a number of solutions. Tennessee principal becomes certified school bus driver to help out with shortage Principal Emily Clark of Norman Smith Elementary School in Clarksville has taken her dedication to her. Members of Local 9426 USW have joined members of the Metro Nashville Education Association and SEIU Local 205 to demand safer and sustainable working conditions. Why finding substitute teachers is so hard. SUBSTITUTE SHORTAGE: COVID-19 is creating a logistical nightmare for Tennessee schools. Apart from the shortage of some daily use goods, theres also a staffing problem. TEACHER PAY: Mayor, school district aim to make Nashville teachers the 'best paid in the state.' Here's how they plan to do it. ET Source: Unsplash There has been a shortage of several things in the U.S. "District leadership continue to explore strategies for retaining and recruiting drivers to the team," Braisted said in a statement. "While we continue to seek out qualified applicants for our open driver positions, our transportation team is deploying all available strategies such as running A/B routes, combining routes, or having CDL-trained staff in supervisory or other positions go out to serve the needs of students.” The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is shifting how schools think about recruiting and retaining employees, district officials said.īattle said Friday the district is down nearly 200 bus drivers, but district spokesperson Sean Braisted said the district needs about 72 drivers to ensure every route has an assigned driver. In September, district officials acknowledged the challenges but also said that the district isn't facing any challenges that other large, urban school districts are not. Metro Schools is not only down bus drivers, but also more than 130 certified staff positions remain unfilled and another 90 paraprofessional, or education assistant, positions are still vacant. Like many urban school districts, school staffing has been a struggle for years and the COVID-19 pandemic has only made it worse. Here's who the district needs to hire.īUS DRIVERS: COVID-19 pandemic amplifies school bus driver shortage concerns RELATED: Metro Nashville Public Schools has dozens of unfilled jobs. We have routes that we are doubling, we are tripling. Parents need to know. No one knows the crisis we are in." "We have had so many call-ins about buses being late, we feel like the public has no knowledge of what’s really going on," Pam Battle, president of Local 9426 USW - the union that represents Nashville bus drivers - said during the rally. Many drivers are retirees who opted not to get behind the wheel this year due to COVID-19.Nashville teachers, school support staff and bus drivers are speaking out about unsafe working conditions and widespread burnout amid ongoing staffing shortages.Ībout two dozen Metro Nashville Public Schools bus drivers rallied Friday morning calling for higher pay and more drivers. However, Hanley says it’s still hard to compete with companies like UPS that offer better pay and full-time hours. School systems have increased their pay for drivers, some to as much as $20 an hour. "Teachers and other staff are driving.”ĭistricts have also combined routes and adjusted school start and end times to cope with the shortage. “Office staff, maintenance personnel, bus technicians, directors, and even superintendents are driving right now," Hanley told WKU Public Radio. She adds districts across Kentucky have been stepping up in unusual ways to finish the school year. Otherwise, the shortage of bus drivers would have forced the district to move to virtual learning for the remaining days.Įlisa Hanley, Branch Manager of Pupil Transportation for the Kentucky Department of Education, says the shortage has been coming for a while and is being felt nationwide. (by Meagan O’Halloran)A shortage of school bus drivers appears to be a nationwide problem. The school district says it will end the year four days early due to a bus driver shortage.Īn online statement by the district says LaRue County schools will use four days of built up instructional time to wrap up the school year on Friday. Summer break will be getting off to an early start for students in LaRue County.
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