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Wake County Schools says driver hiring improving but gaps remain; stipend program paying families
Summary
Wake County Schools reported progress hiring bus drivers and described a stipend program for families asked to transport their own children, but board members pressed staff for more disaggregated data on where shortages and late runs are concentrated.
Wake County Schools officials told the school board on Monday that efforts to hire more bus drivers are producing small gains but several operational gaps persist, and administrators are continuing a stipend program that pays some families who provide their own transportation.
The update gave counts and process details: Jeff Alford, senior director of Enterprise Applications for Wake County Schools, and district transportation staff said the district has a target of 630 drivers to support four new schools and maintain current service levels. Staff said vendors under the district—s transportation contracts have 283 vehicles on contract but only about 238 vehicles were on the road with routes assigned on the day of the presentation because vendors are also short of drivers. Since the start of the school year, vendors added 15 drivers, staff said.
The stipend program, offered to families assigned contract transportation who choose to drive their own children, pays $25 per day up to a stated monthly cap. District staff gave two related descriptions: an earlier explanation said the stipend is $25 per day up to a maximum of $500 per month; later in the presentation staff also described that as potentially applying for up to 10 months (a figure staff said could total $5,000 annually). Staff told the board that 932 families had opted into the stipend program and 604 had returned signed contracts; staff said monthly payments have begun and that payments this fiscal year have topped roughly $500,000.
Transport cost comparisons were presented. Staff said it is generally cheaper to pay families the stipend than to run contract transportation under the district—s new five-year vendor contracts. The district—s contractors average roughly $7,000 per student on contract transportation, staff said.
Board members asked how newly hired drivers are being assigned, and whether added drivers are being routed to the schools and neighborhoods with the most frequent delays. A board member asked, "Where were those bus drivers assigned if in fact the disparity is here?" Staff said they plan more disaggregated analysis to distinguish vacancies, call-ins and route coverage so they can target hires and incentives to the most-affected areas.
The presentation emphasized that the district is tracking several related measures: number of late runs, uncovered runs and runs that result in students arriving late to school. In a sample month presented to the board, staff said they averaged 24 morning late runs and 31 afternoon late runs out of about 1,800 runs; staff characterized the percentage of runs that arrive late to school as low and said uncovered runs averaged about 0.25% per day in November.
Board members pressed for a follow-up plan. Several asked that the district present a targeted plan to reduce the highest concentrations of delays (board members pointed to schools in eastern and southern Wake County) and to bring that plan to the Facilities Committee for review this school year.
Looking ahead, staff said they will continue to hire and to analyze call-in rates and other causes of disruption to identify targeted incentives for higher-need routes. No formal action was taken on staffing assignments at the meeting.
Ending: Board members thanked staff for the update and requested additional disaggregated reporting and a near-term plan to reduce disparities before the end of the school year.
