Heading into the previous school year, the state was grappling with a shortage of school buses and drivers. The driver deficiency was especially challenging, as it was at an estimated 15% decrease statewide at that time.
Marblehead was no exception to the rule last year. However, the town has worked to ensure that the situation has improved in time for the 2023-24 school year.
The town was in need of a full-time driver as well as multiple part-timers last September. Consequently, some students were unable to ride the bus. There was a waitlist composed of approximately 28 students for the Pay to Ride Program, which was designated so that students who do not meet the geographic requirements for free transportation can request to use the bus services for a fee.
Acting Superintendent of Schools Michelle Cresta, along with Facilities and Transportation Director Todd Bloodgood, revealed the district has since filled the openings and is much more confident these problems will not affect the community this year.
“Transportation looks promising for this school year,” Cresta and Bloodgood said in a joint statement. “We currently employ three full-size-school-bus licensed drivers and two 7-D licensed drivers (that are pursuing their full-size-bus license). This would be an ideal level of licensed drivers for us and would benefit our day-to-day operations as well as when a driver calls in sick.”
As for the origin of the statewide shortage, Cresta and Bloodgood lent three primary factors they felt contributed to the cause based on their experiences in town.
The first, according to the statement, was a “general staffing shortage in many areas (we continue to face staffing challenges with most of our staffing positions, not just bus drivers).”
The second was “compensation rates (our bus drivers are covered by a union contract that had pay rates set many years ago. The union contract is expiring June 30, 2024, and will be renegotiated with new pay rates).”
The third factor was that “COVID played a significant part in many older bus drivers retiring.”
Additionally, while the district’s contracting with the Metropolitan Council for Education Opportunity for Boston-area students was not as affected last year as its local bussing program was, Cresta and Bloodgood said that they feel the METCO partnership with Swampscott will pick up where it left off.