RALEIGH, N.C.—In the past three years, Wake County has cut one in five bus routes, bumped children off the bus who live within a mile of their school, required others to walk farther to the bus stop, and now is considering starting some schools earlier in the morning.
Why? A shortage of school bus drivers.
Hmm..it's a puzzle... a conundrum... a riddle inside a mystery...
“I don’t want to be Chicken Little, but we’re in crisis mode,” said Bob Snidemiller, the district’s senior director for transportation. Mr. Snidemiller is recommending the board vote this week to alter bell schedules at a half-dozen schools. The district is offering $750 retention bonuses to its drivers this year. Next year they’d like to raise pay from the starting rate of $12.55 an hour.
Not yet coming to me...where this shortage came from... I mean, who wouldn't want to volunteer to drive 40 screaming kids around in a death machine...
Hey! Maybe they actually get it.
“We have to get more competitive to succeed,” he said. “Our concern is that as the economy continues to grow, our competition is much greater.”
Anyway, $12.55 for a certified driver is absolutely shit pay. These are people responsible from getting your kids to school and home and preventing them from being killed in the process, daily.