SOLON — The Solon Community School District (SCSD) is experiencing continued enrollment growth and expects to for the foreseeable future, which was a driving force behind the recent school bond referendum and upcoming building projects. However, having space for more students is one thing. Having somebody available to safely transport those students to school every day, and then back home is another; and it is a challenge Superintendent Davis Eidahl says the district is not alone in facing.
“The challenge is getting enough drivers to fill the needed daily routes and activity routes that we have.
We’re really no different than most districts across Iowa, and you could probably even go outside the state. We’ve got a great group of drivers that are almost all from here, so it’s a way for them to give back, to be a part of the school system, and to give back to the community. But several of them for the past three, four, five years are at a point where they’re looking to retire. But every year, knowing the situation we’re in, they come back and go another year. We’re kind of on borrowed time so, it’s to the point where we’re all hands on deck and we’re going to do everything we can to fill that void.”
New requirements for bus drivers hasn’t made the situation any easier, Eidahl said. Recently enacted federal laws have added more requirements on new drivers, which means it takes more time for initial training and getting the necessary bus endorsement on their CDL (Commercial Driver’s License).
“We’ve got families in this community that have farmed their whole lives. They’ve got 30 years’ experience behind the wheel of a semi-tractor trailer hauling grain, so they’ve got that Class-A CDL. We’ve asked if they’d be interested in driving activity routes for us and the answer is always ‘yes,’ until they see what the requirements are just to get a passenger endorsement.”
Getting that endorsement added to their CDL, he said, means going back to the basics and essentially starting all over. “The entry level driver training (ELDT), depending on how you do it (the classroom portion can now be completed online) is 16 hours, and then you’ve got another 15-20 hours that you’ve got to drive. After you’ve completed that, then you have to go to the IDOT and go through their driving assessment and test. Once you get that done, then you’re OK (to drive a school bus).”
For somebody looking at a part time way to make a little extra money, who already has a fulltime job and maybe family obligations, it may seem like a lot of hurdles to jump over, he noted. “It’s a challenge to find the time in your already fulltime professional life to get trained.”
Making training
easier to obtain
In response the district is employing a number of strategies to make the process easier, and more enticing.
“One of the strategies we have to maybe help get us over that hurdle is to create our own training program. We applied for an ELDT grant through Iowa Workforce Development (IWD) and were awarded $90,000. That money is geared toward training new bus drivers. By having our own program, we could hopefully better accommodate individual schedules and be much more flexible with our training schedule, and maybe even working around the personal and professional life of individuals who may be interested in helping our community.”
And, getting more drivers trained can’t come too soon, he said.
“We know we’re kind-of looking over a cliff as far as where our current drivers are as far as their desire to maybe retire.” The continuing growth of the community is also a factor, Eidahl said, which will require adding more and more bus routes in the next few years with more students coming to the Solon schools. The district, he pointed out, as a matter of safety transports students who live close enough to the schools that by law the district is not required to provide transportation for. But, with the challenges of getting across Hwy. 1 safely, and the locations of existing and new housing developments, Eidahl said the district’s Board of Education has made the commitment to provide that transportation. The downside though is more students will require more transportation, and more drivers.
“We have nine full time drivers now but at this point we could really use twelve, and we know that in the next two-to-three years we’ll be needing 15.” Five or six drivers, he said, are probably close to stepping down after many years of faithful and dedicated service to the district. “Those are the drivers who have been very understanding of our situation and keep giving us another year. We can’t keep borrowing their time, or counting on them giving us one more year, again, because they really have extended themselves.”
Investing in physical assets
The apparent solution, he said goes back to training new drivers and offering incentives and enticements. One such enticement is the purchase of the former Joe’s Truck Shop site on the north edge of Solon on Hwy 1 for conversion to the district’s transportation center (one of the projects that will be funded by the bond issue voters approved back in March) and the hiring of a fulltime mechanic.
“If we keep our equipment very nice and we have a nice, comfortable place for the drivers, then we hope to attract drivers.” Another enticement is the fleet itself. We’ve been updating our bus fleet much quicker than we have in the past. We’ve been on a rotation of one new bus per year, but with 19 buses on our lot, probably ten of them are 15 years or older. And when they get to that age, you’re spending a lot on maintenance. So, we’ve upped that to purchasing two new buses per year and we’ve budgeted for four in this next (fiscal) year.”
Buses cost around $140,000 each, he added.
“It’s a commitment and it’s long-term planning when you’re budgeting for that.”
Eidahl pointed out how voters’ approval of the bond issue helps the district beyond the building projects specific to the bonds.
“There were projects that we knew we were going to have to tackle: the heating and cooling at Lakeview, the roof at Lakeview, some playgrounds, some asphalt and curb and gutter work around the district, and these are all projects that we were going to have to pay for out of our Physical Plant and Equipment Levy (PPEL). But when the voters approved the bond we could shift those projects to the bond and free up that PPEL fund and now devote it to other necessities such as new buses and vans. It was so very beneficial in so many ways, now we can free up those dollars and address some other issues that we have.”
Smaller may be better,
and more flexible
The district has also purchased five 12-passenger vans over the last two years, and just recently took delivery of two more. “The idea is, 12 passengers is the limit,” Eidahl said. “Anything above that requires a school bus endorsement. For 12 passengers or less, a chauffer’s license works to pick up kids and drop them off for school. As for activities and coaches, a regular driver’s license is sufficient. In fact, the girl’s basketball team traveled exclusively in vans this past season, driven by the coaches. That helped alleviate the stress on finding drivers for activity routes,” he said. “We’re trying strategies like that too. And, as we’re putting together next year’s transportation routes, some kids might find that they’re not getting picked up in a big yellow school bus but instead in a 12-passenger van. That might help fill some void too with the expansion of neighborhoods and more kids coming to Solon next year.”
Currently there are some routes where a bus might head out of Solon and return with seven students on board, and then fill up in mere minutes with an in-town route. Eidahl said all routes are being examined.
“We’re going to be strategic as we look at these, looking at if we can be more efficient with our routing if we send a van out instead of a bus to those seven students out on the edge of the district, and utilize a staff member with a chauffer’s license.”
Expanding the pool of qualified drivers
Three associates have taken advantage of the opportunity to extend their day to a full eight hours by driving vans, he said, and have obtained the chauffer’s license. Kris Wentzien, Eidahl’s Administrative Assistant and Board Secretary, has also obtained a chauffer’s license. “We’ve used her already as a substitute for when a student needed transportation during the school day.”
Eidahl obtained the bus endorsement over spring break.
“Part of why I did that was to have a better understanding of the training that’s required because if we’re going to have our own program, I want to have a very clear idea of what it consisted of and how could we be flexible, how can I answer questions for those who may be interested.” As a licensed and endorsed driver Eidahl has already substituted a couple of times with his first trip taking high school track and field athletes to a meet in Davenport. “That was probably the most nervous I’ve been in my 25 years in education taking that big bus to Davenport. I believe the coaches who got on the bus and saw me in the driver’s seat had a great poker face, they didn’t look nervous.” As for the kids, “I think they were confused. Some of them who know me were confused seeing me there. At the end of the day we got back to the high school and every student athlete thanked me as they were exiting. That’s kind of a neat feeling.”
By having undergone the training, getting the endorsement, and having time behind the wheel, Eidahl is in a better position to understand when drivers have questions or concerns.
“It is rewarding, it’s challenging, and I’m not saying it’s easy because you’re in a very large vehicle and you’ve got a bus full of students, and you’re navigating through traffic making sure that you are seen to traffic all the while you’re ensuring that the kids are in their seats and are safe.”
In some districts, the thought of having to deal with unruly, disruptive and dysregulated students can be a deterrent to potential drivers, especially if there isn’t another adult riding as a bus monitor. But, in Solon, where adults don’t ride the buses, Eidahl said it hasn’t been an issue.
“Talking to other districts, they’re at a point where they’re putting an extra adult on the busses. This year, we’ve had a couple situations where we’ve temporarily put another adult on the bus.” As an example, he mentioned a kindergartner who had never ridden on a bus before and needed a few days of adult guidance to learn proper bus deportment.
“Our kids really do a good job in the classroom and that extends to the bus.” There are of course exceptions, but Eidahl says they are dealt with in a manner unique to each situation.
Financial enticement
“We’re going to have our starting hourly rate for bus drivers jump four dollars an hour. So, we’re going to start any brand-new driver at $27/hour, and that will increase with years of experience. The range will be $29-$31/hour for our current drivers. We want to keep our drivers and attract new ones.” Pay for activity routes goes up to $21/hour paid from time of departure to time of return. “A typical track meet in Davenport would be about a $215-$220 trip. For those drivers interested in doing some activity trips three-four nights per week, it’ll add up. If you love wrestling, a Saturday wrestling tournament is about a 12-13-hour day. So, we’re hoping to attract more activity drivers too.”
Eidahl said the district is reaching out to the volunteer coaches with an offer to become endorsed bus drivers. “We’re trying a lot of different things to fill that void.”
Getting started
The first step to becoming a bus driver for the district is to go to the SCSD website, www.solon.k12.ia.us and click on “Employment.” From there Eidahl said a variety of options become available.
“If you simply want to be a bus driver, maybe do daily routes or activity routes, that would be part time.
If you’re looking for fulltime, we’re also combining jobs. If you want fulltime hours, benefits, health insurance, things like that, then we can combine a bus driver route with a teacher associate, or custodian, or food service worker. We’re trying to be creative. If you want to drive a bus for us and want to be fulltime, I’ll bet we could find the other part of that, those hours that would make you fulltime and qualify you for health insurance and benefits.”
Two brand new Thomas-built school buses sit near the Solon Community School District’s administrative offices and current transportation facility on S. Iowa St. The District is accelerating replacement of older buses and adding to the fleet due to an increase in routes and continued increased enrollment projections.