For the past few years, Northeast Ohio, among other places across the nation, has been suffering from a shortage of bus drivers; and here at Mayfield, things are no different.
According to the Fordham Institute, “During the 2022-23 school year, several districts were forced to close or transition to remote learning because there weren’t enough drivers to get students to school.” The biggest questions are when did this start, why did it start, and how can we fix it?
Mr. Marc Engoglia, the Director of Transportation for Mayfield Schools, was interviewed on the subject. He said, “I’m new to the role, so I don’t know exactly when that happened, but it seems to be when COVID hit and the shutdowns happened. Just about every district in the area started to struggle with people sticking around. It was easy for people to separate themselves from the districts. It was the same with teachers and others around the country, too, so transportation was not any different from that. Since we’ve been back, everyone has been struggling to get people to want to do it, and there is obviously a shortage, not just across the area, but across the state and across the country.”
Engoglia noted that Mayfield is currently only short one or two drivers but notes that there are additional complications with keeping the bus routes running regularly: “It’s not even about being short drivers, it’s about drivers not being there. Unlike when you’re in a classroom and have a substitute teacher, we don’t technically have subs that we call, but we have colleagues that help other colleagues. The driver of bus 9 might have to travel some of bus 12’s route because 12’s driver is out, so it becomes an inconvenience for families because then, we’re not usually as on time as we want to be. It might create lateness for some of those students. Another inconvenience is that it raises the stress level for a lot of colleagues. They get a little nervous because they’re not used to doing a route, and they’re just worried about getting everyone home safely. When we have more subs and more different things going on, everyone’s just a little bit more nervous about getting everybody home safely.”
This shortage has been noticed by many students, and most have experienced it firsthand. Eighth-grade student Vidhi Patel said, “My mom got a text that the bus would come at 7:15, but it didn’t come at all. My mom had to drop me off at school.”
Another eighth-grade student Adelynn South stated, “Sometimes my bus comes late. It’s usually in the afternoon.” Molly Patty shared a similar situation. “My afternoon bus comes late a lot, usually between 3:15 and 3:25. My morning bus was late once and didn’t show up even at 7:30, the time when we’re supposed to be at school. My grandmother had to drop me off.”
Many possible solutions to these problems have been broached.
Mr Engoglia stated “One of the things we’re looking at right now is our current routes and making sure that we’re assigning drivers to the most efficient routes. We may have a route where a driver does two or three streets in Mayfield Heights, and another driver does the next three streets, and it just doesn’t make sense.” Mr. Engoglia went on to say that the transportation department is working hard to change routes so that a bus can drop off kids at multiple streets instead of two buses overlapping routes. “You shouldn’t be passing a bus on your street with kids from your school,” he said.
Also, the Mayfield Department of Transportation has just launched a new app. It’s called Edulog, and it notifies parents of the bus schedules and locations. It is available in English and Spanish.
Until the issue is fully resolved, keep in mind that Mayfield Schools is doing its best to ensure that transportation is the most efficient for students and families alike and that it makes up for the lack of drivers with careful planning and helping out where it is needed.
The Mayfield Transportation website states, ”Currently, Mayfield’s drivers transport approximately 2,500 students daily to over 20 public and non-public schools with 59 buses and 3 vans.” Considering this, and given the national shortage of bus drivers, it is promising that Mayfield is able to transport its students so efficiently.
