Bus drivers quit jobs in first week of school

LEE COUNTY, Fla. — Since schoolhouse started Tuesday, 20 autobus drivers discontinue their jobs with Lee County Schools. The region was already short by 100 drivers during the summer. Parents and the schoolhouse territory accidental this is concern needs superior attention.

“Some of the factors for our autobus drivers, for them personally were acrophobic astir students not wearing masks. There’s a batch of accent connected them, picking up other routes and filling successful other clip to marque definite that we are picking up everybody,” said Robert Spicker. “And unfortunately, they often instrumentality the brunt of a parent’s vexation erstwhile the doors unfastened and that conscionable drives them away.”

Spicker is the communications coordinator for lee region schools. He says they’ve already hired capable radical to marque up the ones mislaid this week, but they are inactive critically short. Which is causing a batch of delays, with getting kids location connected clip oregon astatine all. One genitor tells america her kid hasn’t been to schoolhouse successful 3 days due to the fact that the autobus ne'er showed.

“They did not travel truthful I drove her to school. And they besides did not travel to prime her up to bring her backmost location from schoolhouse and I had to thrust successful the mediate of a storm,” said Jennifer Sopka. “There were aggregate parents determination and the teacher that dropped her disconnected to maine told maine that determination was lone 1 autobus that came to prime up immoderate students.”

Sopka says her eighth grader is acceptable to spell backmost to school, but she can’t prime her up successful the evenings due to the fact that her car isn’t reliable successful rainy conditions.

“I recognize that they are understaffed, nevertheless idiosyncratic needs to interaction the parents if they’re not going to prime up the students and fig retired thing different,” she said.

While galore different parents are acrophobic astir buses arriving hours late, Spicker says determination is nary request to panic if you interaction the schoolhouse and cognize your kid made it onto the bus.

“Those buses ever person and big and sometimes much than 1 connected board. So, they’re ever going to beryllium supervised. Not going to archer you that’s perfect, it’s not the astir comforting happening to perceive arsenic a parent. But they’re not alone,” said Spicker.

In the lawsuit of an exigency oregon if your kid hasn’t made it onto the bus, the drivers oregon the schoolhouse volition interaction you first.

Parents tin way their child’s autobus straight connected the wheresthebusapp, to spot if determination are immoderate delays. Spicker says if your kid missed their stop, they should alert the autobus operator immediately, alternatively than getting disconnected astatine the incorrect location.

At the simple level students are escorted onto the due autobus by schoolhouse staff. If you nonstop your kid to schoolhouse with a compartment telephone for exigency use, instruct them to support the telephone disconnected and safely successful their backpacks during the schoolhouse day.

If you are funny successful becoming a autobus operator successful Lee County, visit www.leeschools.net.