BENTONVILLE -- The School District reverted to letting teachers drive buses to help meet the high demand for student transportation.
The district added five drivers as a result of the change, said Dena Ross, chief operations officer.
Want to drive?
Those interested in driving a school bus for the Bentonville School District should call 479-254-5080 for information and to schedule an interview. Drivers with a current commercial driver’s license receive training. Qualified applicants receive training and must pass the CDL written test, and the driving portion of the CDL test. Testing is paid for by the district. All candidates must pass a physical and drug screening.
Source: Staff report
Teachers had been permitted to be bus drivers up until a few years ago. The district stopped in part because those teachers occasionally would miss meetings before and after school, Ross said.
"Times have changed, and at this point we do not have plenty of drivers and we need to meet the demand," Ross wrote in an email. "So we told staff members they could once again train and begin to drive a bus."
Matt Hedstrom, who teaches history at Fulbright Junior High School, jumped at the chance when he heard the district was allowing teachers to drive.
Hedstrom, now in his 25th year with the district, has experience driving school buses. He maintained his commercial driver's license.
His teaching and coaching schedule would allow him to work only a morning route. The Transportation Department was able to accommodate his schedule, he said.
"It helps me because I get to make a little extra money. It helps the district because they're short on drivers. I like how it has worked out so far," Hedstrom said.
Hedstrom gets to Fulbright at about 6:30 each morning and picks up his bus there. He then drives to Centerton to take students from there to Elm Tree Elementary School and Ardis Ann Middle School.
From there he returns to Centerton, where he picks up Fulbright students and Bentonville High School seniors and delivers them to their schools.
He typically gets back to Fulbright by 8:15. In all he transports about 90 students per day, he said.
Chris DeWitt, district transportation director, said two weeks before this school year started the district was shorthanded by 10 bus drivers. More than 10,000 students had registered for bus service at that time, he said.
Bentonville is far from the only district that struggles to find and keep bus drivers. The unconventional schedule is one thing that turns off some potential drivers, DeWitt said.
He received six applications during a two-month period this summer. Three of the applicants didn't meet qualifications, he said.
Bentonville's enrollment, meanwhile, is growing rapidly. The district added about 600 students this school year, bringing enrollment to about 16,800. In addition, the district opened a new high school in Centerton this month.
The district runs two routes with many buses each day. It was able to reduce the number of drivers it needed compared to last year by adjusting school start times and shortening routes, DeWitt said.
Retirements and other employment options have drained the staff somewhat, he added.
Bentonville's pay scale for bus drivers starts at $14.43 per hour.
Officials with Northwest Arkansas' other big school districts -- Fayetteville, Rogers and Springdale -- reported being in decent shape as far as bus drivers earlier this month, though they said they are always happy to receive applications.
"Hiring drivers is probably one of our biggest operational challenges," said Dana Samples, director of transportation for the Springdale School District. "We always are looking for a few good women and men."
The Rogers School District, in an effort to attract and retain more drivers, began setting up some drivers with work in food service so they could achieve the equivalent of a full-time schedule, and thus become eligible for benefits, transportation director Ron Young said. About 20 employees have taken advantage of that option, he said.
NW News on 08/30/2016