District reports driver shortages, new ADA van and stop-arm camera citations

Transportation Supervisor Peters presented a multi-part update on district transportation, citing staffing shortages, fleet changes, technology upgrades and enforcement partnerships.

Peters said the department is starting the year with about 19 staff and one full-time bus-driver vacancy. The fleet increased by one vehicle to 26, and the district added a new wheelchair-capable transit van with an ADA lift that can carry up to eight students in flexible seating configurations. The district has also begun training an in-house school bus trainer to reduce reliance on external certification trips that cost roughly $6,000–$7,000 per trainee.

Peters described technology changes that cut recurring costs by replacing cell phones in buses with a single radio system and by ending an unsuccessful trip-tablet software rollout (a canceled implementation returned about $2,600 to the budget). He said stop-arm cameras have improved enforcement: the district can now produce images/license-plate data to law enforcement and files citation requests; Peters estimated receiving 5–10 citation results per week from camera evidence while observing many more illegal passes.

Board members asked for a year-over-year cost comparison (fuel, overtime and total dollars); Peters agreed to provide a dollar-amount breakdown. The presentation also noted McKinney-Vento obligations and several out-of-district contract trips as drivers of increased mileage (about 230,000 miles last year, up roughly 15%).

The board discussed recruitment strategies and the difficulty of hiring substitute drivers; Peters said the district will continue to rely on part-time van hires as a pipeline for full-time drivers.