Shortage of school bus drivers
Photo: Castanet Staff
Okanagan Central School District is dealing with a “serious” shortage of school bus drivers.
School trustees will hear in committee this week that 16 of the 70 regular drivers in the school district have retired or left their positions since September 2021.
This has led to frequent cancellations of routes.
“In order for the department to have the least impact on student transport, we have merged bus routes in three separate areas in the district to compensate for the loss of drivers we were unable to replace,” SD23 Transport Manager Gail Prokopchuk said in a note. to the school board.
“Training and hiring new drivers continues and many different bus driver recruitment campaigns have led to new applications,” Prokopchuk continued, adding that replacement drivers are expected to be in place next autumn so that routes can be rebuilt. return to normal.
This year, more than 4,549 students rode the bus on 70 routes. The district says it expects to receive 7,000 applications for the next school year, although not all will be approved.
Priority is given to children who live three kilometers, four kilometers and 4.8 kilometers from primary, secondary or secondary school, respectively. The kind riders – last year there were 743 – then complete the routes.
Prokopchuk said in a report that funding for the school bus program was a “continuing challenge”. Rider fees collected from 2009-2010 do not fully fund the program, which is subsidized by the regular funding of education in the school district.
School districts are not required to provide transportation, but this is a service that SD23 has traditionally offered, the report said.
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