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Board hears options to recruit bus drivers as vendors detail licensing steps and costs
Summary
A vendor briefed the board on school‑bus licensing: drivers can obtain a school bus license at age 18 after classroom, driving hours and a school‑bus physical; trustees discussed third‑party testing, differing DOT and school physical requirements and district support such as hosting training and coordinating physicals.
The board heard a presentation on bus driver licensing and recruitment from a transportation presenter introduced as Rich Barber. Barber and board members walked through the process for new drivers: an applicant age 18 can pursue a school bus certificate after classroom and behind‑the‑wheel instruction, a school bus physical (separate from a DOT medical card) and a third‑party driving test.
Discussion clarified that a school bus physical is not the same as a DOT commercial driver medical card and that candidates may need additional DOT certification for certain vehicles. Presenters described minimum training components (for example, roughly 14 hours classroom and 6 hours driving for some programs) and cited training costs in the meeting—members referenced figures of about $600 for some local training and an outlying example of $5,000 for a longer pre‑certification program.
Trustees and contractors said the district faces driver shortages and asked whether the district could help by hosting certification classes, coordinating campus physicals with local providers, or otherwise supporting recruitment. The chair said the district is willing to help host training or paperwork sessions: "If you think of anything or something comes up that we could help with as a district, host something, have a class, let us know," the chair said.
Board members agreed to follow up: the district will explore hosting training sessions and coordinating physicals with local doctors to increase local certification throughput. No formal policy or motion regarding recruitment incentives was adopted at the meeting.
