By james art Durham Public Schools are still struggling to fill their bus routes several months into the school year.
The district said about 30 percent of funded full-time school bus driver positions are vacant.
District staff have expressed at DPS Board of Education meetings that they need help.
As of Thursday, DPS has 134 bus drivers and another seven on leave. There are 59 vacant staff positions.
About 73% of the district’s approximately 32,000 students need transportation to school.
The DPS school board is looking at two solutions: increasing the number of drivers and reducing the demand for drivers.
Two former DPS drivers, Merica Forbes and Walls Cherry, are leading the charge to hire more. Both are considered transport specialists authorized by the Department of Motor Vehicles to provide behind-the-wheel training. The process helps shave a month off the hiring time.
“We’re able to just step in and focus solely on recruiting these drivers, but also training them,” Forbes said. “Then the DMV steps in and they help them get them [passenger and school bus]
approvals, so we can get them on the road a little faster.”
On the demand issue, one possibility is the use of express bus stops for middle magnet schools. The proposals could change bus routes for schools like Rogers-Herr Middle School and Durham School of the Arts. It can save more than 700 miles of driving.
The district is also looking for walkable zones, areas within a mile and a half of schools with enough pedestrian infrastructure for students to walk.