District faces driver shortage; administration proposes small bell-time shifts to ease PM routing

Administration told the Finance & Operations committee that the district is operating with far fewer drivers than routes planned, causing PM routing delays and prompting a proposed, modest change to school dismissal times.

Mr. O'Toole explained the PM routing pinch: the district has budgeted for 67 routes but currently has about 54 drivers on staff. To buy routing time, the administration proposed trimming five minutes from the high-school dismissal and moving elementary dismissal five minutes later, which together would create roughly eight additional minutes of routing buffer for middle- and elementary-tier runs. "Right now, we're scheduled to have 67 routes. We've been nowhere close. Next year, we're budgeting 62. Right now, we're currently at 54," administration said.

Administration characterized the change as an informational discussion; building leaders said they could reclaim minutes from tutorial time at the high-school level without eroding required instructional hours. Administrators said they would continue discussions with the transportation contractor and explore other mitigation options (smaller vehicles, leasing vans, recruitment incentives) and would return to the board with a formal proposal if needed.

Committee members raised concerns about earlier start times for younger children and the practical challenges of implementing schedule changes. Administration said the proposed shift is intended to minimize route restructuring while addressing immediate service reliability problems.