PORTLAND, Ore. — School staffing shortages have become a problem for districts in Oregon and elsewhere. Some parents say it's leading to disruptions. They’re particularly worried about school bus routes getting canceled and leaving some kids without another way to get to school.
Andrea Tomlin has two kids attending Ainsworth Elementary in Portland, one in second grade and the other in fourth grade. She said the school bus route in their neighborhood gets canceled almost every day.
Another parent with a child who goes to the same school said she’s had a similar experience.
“This is the beginning of week four that [my son’s] bus has been canceled,” said Jaime Davis.
Both Tomlin and Davis are able to drive their kids to school, but they know not all families have access to transportation.
Portland Public Schools, like so many districts, is experiencing a shortage of bus drivers.
Teri Brady, the district’s director of student transportation, said the driver shortage has led to daily changes and cancellations of some bus routes. But more drivers are being hired and trained. When KGW asked the district how many routes are canceled each day and how long it's been happening, PPS said it cancels an average of five to 10 routes weekly.
"Our struggle now is to cover daily absences. We have enough drivers to cover our routes and most absences, but periodically we have more drivers absent than we have substitute drivers available. In those cases, some routes will be temporarily cancelled for a limited number of days. As with any absences, this is difficult to predict," a spokesperson for the district said.
What is clear to Tomlin is that some kids aren't getting to school. She's a part of the parent-teacher association and works closely with school leaders.
“They reached out and said, is there anything that the PTA can do because we have kids that have not been in school for two weeks,” said Tomlin.
She said the number of kids who might not get to class can vary by day, but she and other parents are trying to do as much as they can to help.
“There are other parents at the bus stop that I know, like, don't have a second car or they don't drive. So I've picked up some of their kids and dropped them off, had to carpool a little bit to help them out,” Davis said.
Tomlin said she’s also been getting calls from other parents.
“[Their] saying, ‘what can we do and how can we help?’ And we're driving past these kids that are standing at bus stops waiting for the bus and they don't even know that it's not coming,” Tomlin said.
Typically, she said, the district will send out an email, phone call or other alert, but her concern is that parents might not get it for one reason or another. Even if they do receive the notification, she worries some parents may not have another way to transport their kids to school.
“I spent a weekend calling churches to see if I could find 15-passenger vans,” said Tomlin.
Insurance and liability made that plan tough. Parents organized carpools as well.
“We've all said, ‘oh gosh, okay, well, I have five seats and I can pick up this many kids.’ And you know, we've gone on Nextdoor and we've picked up extra booster seats,” Tomlin said. “These are kinder and first graders in some cases.”
“I'm not interested in pointing fingers and placing blame. I just want to get it solved and I just want to get those kids to school,” she said.
Both Tomlin and Davis said they would appreciate more communication from the district. Tomlin is most curious about how decisions are made regarding bus route cancellations.
The district sent KGW the following statement:
The district continues to see a shortage of qualified drivers, although recent efforts such as the $3/hour wage increase approved by the Board of Education have led to an increase in applicants and candidates. Some routes continue to be altered or cancelled on a daily basis but the situation should improve as more drivers are hired and trained.
PPS-operated routes are almost entirely servicing SPED students. The impact to families assigned to PPS operated routes has been one of multiple assignment changes as we have reduced the number of routes. There can be daily delays or driver changes as we divide routes uncovered for the day amongst our drivers. They may see different drivers daily as office staff gets pulled in to drive routes last minute. We have made it a priority to cover all SPED routes first to lessen the impact to these families.
For Benson and Lincoln families impacted by the cancellation of 13 bus routes, PPS is offering a $300 monthly stipend to help support alternative modes of transportation to and from school. Here is a link to our Family Transportation Support webpage with more details.
PPS added Friday that it has two active carpool apps for district parents, CarpooltoSchool and SchoolPool, meant to help parents connect and pool resources.