Lafayette board proposes ideas to address bus driver shortage

The Lafayette Parish School Board tossed around ideas Wednesday about how to address a shortage of school bus drivers.

The district was hit with a slew of last-minute departures, leading to complaints Wednesday from parents about missed pickups or confusion about drivers, bus routes and bus numbers.

There are 258 bus routes in Lafayette Parish, said Chief Administrative Officer Joe Craig. Just days before the start of the school year on Wednesday, officials learned of about 15 retirements or resignations, he said. Another 15 drivers are on extended medical leave.

Many board members said they were suspicious of the last-minute timing of many of the absences.

“I do not want to punish a bus driver who wants to retire or who is sick,” said board member Jeremy Hidalgo. “I don’t think it’s a coincidence that many people left the system one or two weeks before the start of school. It caused problems today.”

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On Wednesday, the board unanimously approved exploring the possibility of contracting with a transportation company to have drivers on-call to run bus routes if regular drivers are absent.

“We had a significant number of resignations as we approached the first day of school. It sure would have been nice if they quit in May, so we could have not counted on them. I find that to be very unprofessional. You put us in a bind in August,” said Board President Erick Knezek. “You certainly let us down. You certainly let the kids down. I don’t want to be put in that position again. I think we need a contingency plan.”

Another idea is to structure bus driver pay to time checks closer to the school year. Board Attorney Bob Hammonds said one district in north Louisiana gives bus drivers a $750 back-to-school check if they show up to work in the fall.

“They have a pretty high percentage of returns,” Hammonds said. “The inability to find bus drivers is commonplace throughout the state. It’s getting to be a larger and larger problem.”

Board member Dawn Morris noted that district policy allows officials to verify medical leaves and have drivers examined by a doctor of the school board’s choice.

“It seems coincidental that so many of these leaves were extended right around the start of the school year,” Morris said.

See the school bus adjustments made this year

Board member Britt Latiolais suggested expanding the number of employees who are trained and certified to drive buses. Craig said many employees do have such certifications, including maintenance workers and other staff. But there may be room for additional training.

“We have 5,000 employees within this system,” Latiolais said. “We could have people ready to go at a moment’s notice. I think having the people available and ready to go and trained gives us another option.”