By Kate Irelan
The Buhler USD 313 School District is experiencing a temporary bus driver shortage due to an increase of illness after the Thanksgiving holiday.
One bus route is affected, resulting in busing students, primarily from Buhler High School, to the CrossPoint Church parking lot to be picked up by their guardians. The shortage should only last a few days until drivers are able to return to work.
“We are experiencing sickness in our driver fleet, and some substitute drivers are out too,” USD 313 Superintendent Cindy Couchman said. “When this happens, we use the CrossPoint Church parking lot at a drop-off point. The law requires the school to provide a bus service for distances more than 2.5 miles. Cross Point Church is under 2.5 miles”
Affected students received a text message from USD 313 transportation director Mandy Gantenbein with instructions for parents to have students at the parking lot by 7:35 a.m. to be bused to school and then parents needed to be at the parking lot by 4:00 p.m. to pick students back up.
“We call it the CrossPoint Shuttle, but it is still a USD 313 school bus,” said Couchman. “It mostly affects Buhler High School students. We did this quite a bit last year, but this is the first time this year. Those students who have been at the school for a while are pretty used to it.”
Couchman said that parents have done a good job working with us and communicating. Students will stay on the bus, especially in inclement or cold weather until their parent or guardian arrives to pick them up.
“The school district is currently fully staffed with bus drivers and could always use more substitute drivers for a case just like this,” said Couchman. “We train the drivers and Mandy is great. The school district pays for the training and testing. Applicants just have to be willing to put in the time. Mandy has a 100% pass rate for her drivers.”
If people are interested in applying for a substitute driver position, visit the USD 313 website job opportunities.
