On-time bus rates improve for the week amid continuing bus driver shortage; Dr. Randy Trani addresses bus issues in letter to families

After a chaotic start to the new school year with bus transportation, Matanuska Susitna Borough School District Superintendent Dr. Randy Trani addressed issues surrounding the transportation issues in a letter to families and staff.

In the letter, Dr. Trani wrote that his office has been working with Durham School Services, the new bus contractor for MSBSD, to reach an acceptable level of service.

Dr. Trani said that ‘on time’ buses peaked at 97.7% on Friday, compared to last week’s ‘on time’ buses were below 85%.

He also said that Durham has made MSBSD a priority, bringing in drivers from the Lower 48 to provide temporary assistance, but the company still remains short-staffed.

“The district is evaluating route consolidation to free up additional drivers. The district is requesting support from DEED to temporarily change some regulatory standards so more drivers can be trained at one time. The district is working to provide home to school reimbursement to select families so routes with low utilization rates can be reassigned to support other routes,” Dr. Trani said in the letter.

One area of concern for many parents and caregivers has been an inability to connect with the dispatch center when students cannot be located or have been misrouted on the bus.

Dr. Trani said that Durham’s radios and radio protocols are fully operational and working, and that their dispatch call volume has decreased significantly and they are being more responsive to families. Families that have not been able to reach Durham during peak hours are accessing MSBSD’s Pupil Transportation Department at 761-4357 (HELP).

“Elementary staff have been riding every afternoon route to provide support to bus drivers, students and their families,” he added.

Meanwhile, Durham has been implementing a number of bonuses as a means to encourage recruitment, including a $2,500 sign on bonus for credentialed school bus drivers, $1,500 to non-credentialed driver candidates, and a $1,500 referral bonus for Durham employees and district employees who refer a credentialed driver, with no limit to the number of referrals. (e.g., refer 3 drivers, earn $4,500)

There is a $1,000 referral bonus for Durham employees and District employees who refer to non-credentialed drivers, with no limit to the number of referrals. (e.g., refer 3 drivers, earn $3,000).

Durham began training their first cohort of new drivers this week.

But the news was not all good. The bus driver shortage continues not only here in Alaska, but in the rest of the country as well.

Dr. Trani wrote that nearly 55% of Alaskan students and families are experiencing inadequate busing due to the driver shortage.

“If you know of anyone that is interested in becoming a bus driver, please encourage them to apply,” he wrote.

Meanwhile, the out-of-state substitute drivers Durham has been utilizing we will be returning home soon as other schools are starting and drivers are needed across the country. Durham is working hard to replace the current out-of-state drivers with replacement drivers from other locations in the lower 48.

“Unfortunately, not all of the existing out-of-state drivers can be replaced with other out-of-state drivers as this shortage is nationwide,” he wrote.

For parents and students, this means there may be additional route cancellations will continue into September. The current rolling bus schedule is remain in place for the next week. However, daily attendance issues such as illness within the existing bus driver pool means there will likely be additional unscheduled cancellations Monday, August 29-Wednesday, August 31.

The School District is anticipating another update to families next week with regard to future bus cancellations.

“Our hope is that Durham is able to replace the majority of out-of-state drivers with other drivers from the lower 48, but given the widespread nature of the shortage it is unlikely that will happen. The District will provide an updated list of bus route cancellations later next week after Durham has secured all of the substitute drivers they can from other locations,” Dr. Trani wrote. “We apologize for these inconveniences and are continuing to work with Durham to improve delivery of services. Thank you for your continued patience and flexibility.”