BIG RAPIDS — Parents found themselves fighting traffic to drop off their kids at school Wednesday after Big Rapids Public Schools canceled bussing districtwide the night before.
“About 9 o’clock (Tuesday) night, we found out that we weren’t going to have enough bus drivers to cover our routes for various reasons,” Superintendent Tim Haist told the Pioneer “So ultimately, we made the decision to continue to have students in school. We didn't feel like it was necessary to cancel school and we didn't want to transition to a synchronous learning model on such short notice.”
The administration made phone calls and sent emails to parents, as well as post the news to the district’s website and social media sites about 9:30 p.m.
“We apologized for being so late, but I can tell you, I'm very grateful to our parents and community for stepping up this morning,” Haist said. “We had overall very good attendance in our schools and we had a very productive day.”
Haist said students who were unable to make it to school Wednesday would not be penalized, and teachers would work with them to catch up when they return.
Big Rapids Public Schools usually runs 12 routes, and while they’ve had to double up runs in the past due to an ongoing bus driver shortage, this is the first time they’ve had to cancel bus services all together.
“We were probably short seven drivers this morning,” Haist said Wednesday afternoon. “And two of our people that were available were brand-new, and so we're just training right now. So, we wouldn't have even been able to do a double run and get it covered.”
Running only some of the routes while canceling others was not a viable option, Haist said, because the school district didn’t want to create confusion.
“Finding out that late at night made it difficult to not to communicate,” he said. “So, we wanted to send a message to all parents so that everybody was aware.”
The bus driver shortage has been an issue for many districts across the state for several years, but BRPS has been working hard to remedy that.
“We've posted signs all over the community trying to get community members, parents, anyone that may be interested in driving bus for us,” Haist said. “We will provide the training, we’ll provide the opportunities for them if they're interested.”
Other incentives include bonuses, as well as split positions where “we hire someone potentially as a bus driver part of the day and then the other part of the day they may work as a custodian or technology or food service in an effort to make more full-time jobs for people.
“So, we're trying to be as creative as possible to bring in more bus drivers.”
Haist expected to have enough drivers to cover all routes Thursday.
“I just wanted to be grateful and appreciate our community for parents for helping us through this difficult time,” he said.
For more information about becoming a bus driver for Big Rapids Public Schools, call the central office at 231-796-2627.
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November 04, 2021 at 05:14PM
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Big Rapids schools cancel bus service due to lack of drivers - The Pioneer
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