Pa. officials calling thousands in effort to address bus driver shortage

Pennsylvania officials are searching statewide for school bus drivers as the driver shortage plaguing the nation continues to hit close to home.

PennDOT is reaching out to about 375,000 people across the state who have commercial driver’s licenses to highlight the need for bus drivers and the process for obtaining the right endorsements, said Kurt Myers, deputy secretary for driver and vehicle services.

There also are plans to try to boost the number of CDL holders in the state: CDL skills testing at 23 centers across the state will have expanded operations starting Oct. 18. The centers will be open on Mondays for four weeks in hopes of making the process “more convenient for potential drivers to complete the process faster,” Myers said.

Across the region, school districts have felt the strain of the shortage. Pittsburgh Public Schools cited transportation issues as one of the reasons officials there chose to delay the start of school by 10 days. The delay initially was slated to be even longer.

In Westmoreland County, the Hempfield Area School District is relying on a number of bus companies to fill the gaps left by the driver shortage at First Student. Officials have said they are turning to Mt. Pleasant-based DMJ Transportation and Kittanning-based A.J. Myers and Sons when necessary.

The need for those changes came to light one Monday in late August when three First Student buses were left without drivers.

School districts are able to use funds from the federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief to reimburse parents or guardians who transport their own students to and from school. Pittsburgh Public Schools announced last month it would reimburse families $10 per day for round trips of less than 12 miles and $20 per day for round trips of less than 24 miles.

It’s all part of an overarching goal to keep kids in physical classrooms.

“Our schools and students are resilient, and under the extraordinary circumstances created by the pandemic, this has been a good start to the school year,” Pennsylvania Secretary of Education Noe Ortega said. “I thank the students, parents and communities for working together and finding creative solutions so students can remain in the classroom, where it’s vital for them to be.”

Officials, however, said they are not considering a vaccine mandate for the state’s 500 school districts. Instead, they continue to focus on providing information, making vaccines accessible to students and looking ahead to anticipated approval for children 5 to 11.

As of Thursday, only about 22% of children 12 to 14 have received a covid-19 vaccine, although that percentage rises to 42.6% for teenagers 15 to 19.

“There is not a contemplation of requiring vaccination within the education population,” said state Acting Secretary of Health Alison Beam. She said health officials want workers to seek out vaccination rather than have officials mandate it.

Earlier this week, Pfizer submitted an application for approval to the federal government to administer the vaccine to children 5 to 11. Review and approval by the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention likely will take several weeks, Beam said. She encouraged schools to preemptively begin scheduling vaccine clinics.

Beam called it encouraging to see that more than a half-million school-aged children already are vaccinated. She said in just the past week, the Department of Health has worked with one Erie-area school district and one in the Pittsburgh region to connect them with vaccine providers.