Fort Mill School District has plenty of bus riders. But the district needs more drivers.
No school district in York County ever had as many students as Fort Mill does now. The challenge becomes, how to transport all those students.
The Fort Mill School District is short 25 bus drivers. Particularly at the middle school, there are more double routes. That’s where a bus takes one round of students and returns to take another.
The 18,018 district students as of Tuesday morning is about 100 more than the district had to end the last school year.
Bus ridership since last year is up more than 10 times.
“We do have some double routes that we’ve had to create at several of our schools,” assistant superintendent Grey Young told the school board Tuesday night. “We are up almost 1,600 riders from last year to this year, which is pretty impressive. A lot of people are utilizing the buses, but it does cause somewhat of an issue when we’re short drivers.”
The district ended last school year with typical bus operations, after years of COVID-19 impacts -- from an initial closing of schools to mask requirements for buses and spaced seating. School Board Chair Kristy Spears said at least part of the ridership uptick could relate to the continued return from COVID.
“I think a lot of parents were less comfortable with the shoulder to shoulder in a bus, and now that’s getting back to normal,” Spears said.
Young asks parents for patience during the first few weeks of school in what is a transitional time. Routes become more efficient through the first month of a school year. Board member Michele Branning said she’s already heard from concerned middle school parents about routes and timing.
“It gets better as time goes along,” Young said. “It just takes a few weeks.”
The district will offer bonuses for drivers. Drivers need a commercial driver’s license, but the district training department can help there.
“We are actively pursuing other bus drivers,” Young said.
Drivers with full-time jobs beyond busing could be used to transport sports teams or a marching band.
“What we really need right now, too, are not just route drivers,” Young said. “We need activity drivers. We’re short on those, and we’re using all of our bus drivers to run routes.”
School bus driver shortages aren’t new, nor limited to Fort Mill.
An online search for them brings up school districts across the state and nation facing similar issues. In his 2022-23 executive budget released earlier this year, Gov. Henry McMaster aimed $12 million in non-recurring funds to address the school bus driver shortage, which was worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Despite the route doubling, Young said first-week issues were typical this year. Students got to and from school despite a water main break in town that cause eight schools to boil water for several days, a couple of fire alarms and a wreck on I-77 on Friday that stalled traffic throughout Fort Mill.
“You probably were part of the worst traffic you’ve ever seen in Fort Mill,” Young said.
The bus driver roster could become even more important as the district grows. Typically the 10th day of school enrollment, a standard metric for districts, is down a little from the first day as non-returning students are identified. The district can gain 50 to 70 students in a day, though, based on prior year and current experience, Spears said.
“We’ll get a push right after Labor Day as well, because people think that’s when school starts,” said board member Scott Frattaroli. “They’re moving here from the north.”
The district directs potential drivers to its transportation website, which has details on training and hiring.
“If you know anybody that wants to drive a bus, we need activity drivers,” Young said. “We need route drivers.”
This story was originally published August 24, 2022 at 12:23 PM.
