Schools seeing driver shortage
BY ALYSSA MEIER
Editor
The workday is strange - a few hours in the morning and again in the afternoon, with a break in the middle.
That unusual schedule is what local superintendents are crediting to a lack of school bus drivers in the area, a problem Wilton addressed at its recent school board meeting.
“We are looking for some bus drivers, which we need pretty badly,” Wilton School Superintendent Amanda Meier said.
Meier said two longtime bus drivers for the school retired recently, and that filling their shoes can be a challenge.
“It’s kind of an odd commitment to have your morning committed and your evening committed, and hours in the middle,” Meier said.
Since the job is part-time, Meier said drivers are often working another job or going to school, so applicants have to be willing to sacrifice some of that time to driver routes. Another factor that could contribute to the driver shortage would be the extreme winter weather that often hits North Dakota and makes rural bus routes a challenge.
