Bus Driver Shortage Poses Challenge For Waukesha County Schools

WAUKESHA, WI — Waukesha schools are dealing with a bus driver shortage that may result in the cancellation of certain routes and school events.

Chris Thompson, the chief strategy officer for the Elmbrook School District, said in a letter to parents that the district had to cancel or delay six to 12 public and private bus routes since Sept. 1 because of the shortage.

The district has also had to cancel or adjust transportation for extracurricular events such as high school athletics or field trips before and after school.

GoRiteway, the bus company that Elmbrook hired, has about 50 regular route drivers. The district needs 61 buses to get kids to and from its elementary schools, so the district is short around 11 drivers every day, Thompson said.

Joe Koch, deputy superintendent for the Waukesha School District, told Patch that the shortage impacts charter routes for extracurricular activities like sports games. The district was short of nine drivers in the beginning of the school year and some drivers have gotten sick from COVID-19.

If the shortage reaches a critical point, Waukesha schools will have to work with families on how to get their kids to school, Koch said. One mitigation effort the district may use is combined routes, which could result in longer wait times.

Advertisements for First Student, the bus service Waukesha schools uses, are up in colleges and universities in town and on school property.

Bus driver shortages are affecting the rest of Wisconsin and the country as well.

In Chicago, 70 bus drivers — or 10 percent of the workforce — quit and left 2,100 kids without a way to get to school in early September, Wisconsin Public Radio reported.

Public schools in Pittsburgh told families they were short 650 bus seats on Sept. 3.

The Elmbrook School District is interested in creating a program to train part-time staff, coaches and some administrators so they can qualify for commercial driver's licenses to offset their driver shortage, Thompson said.

Patch reached out to the Waukesha School District for comment.