North Ridgeville continues to face bus driver shortage

NORTH RIDGEVILLE — School districts across Northeast Ohio continue to face a bus driver shortage. North Ridgeville City Schools began to see the problem towards the end of the pandemic.

"We were short last year," Matt Yunker, director of operations, said. "The end of the year was pretty bad, and we haven't rebounded from those levels."

The district is short seven bus drivers this school year, meaning current bus drivers have to run two routes.

"The other side of that is our buses are at capacity," Yunker said. "We've got more kids on buses. That means they are on buses longer. They have to get picked up earlier and not get home till later."

North Ridgeville is not alone. News5 told you about the challenges at Bedford City Schools. Massillon City Schools also shared onFacebook about the need for drivers.

The problem can also be found across the state. According to a survey from the Ohio School Boards Association, only about 7% of Ohio school bus garages are fully staffed.

"It's something we definitely have to wrap our arms around," State Representative Sean Brennan said.

Brennan represents the 14th District and spent decades teaching in Northeast Ohio. He said improving school funding could help the problem. Adding if that happens, bus drivers could be paid a competitive wage.

There's also talk of changing the standards needed to become a driver. Some of those requirements include obtaining a school bus driver's certificate. That includes 12 hours of on-the-bus instruction and 15 hours in the classroom.

"I'd hate for someone who has the skills to safely drive a school bus to be precluded," Brennan said. "Because they can't remember lists and lists of all kinds of information."

But, Brennan said schools may need to provide drivers with some peace of mind, too. The state representative said he feels some people won't consider the job because of the responsibility. He suggests schools look into hiring driver assistants.

"At the end of the day," he said. "Folks care about kids and they want to keep them safe, but they also want to keep themselves safe so can they can see their own kids."

But first, districts have to fill their current positions. Yunker said the starting pay for drivers at North Ridgeville is $19 an hour with benefits.

While the school looks for more drivers, Yunker is asking for patience from students and parents.

"Just because things are the way they are now on day one," he said. "Two weeks from now, we may be able to tweak and improve things."