There are 23 routes that Unit 5 couldn’t cover. The Unit 5 Superintendent said the district is out-performing other areas.
“We are in a better position than a lot of districts,” said Superintendent Kristen Weikle. “I know one large district not too far form the Tri-County area that is just not running routes. They’ve told parents, ‘Look it’s on you to get your child to school. We know we can’t run “X” number of routes so if your child can’t get to school we will send work home.’ Unit 5 is doing everything we can. I believe First Student is too. They train bus drivers on a regular basis.”
One parent said she is frustrated with Unit 5.
“I get phone calls all the time about busses my child doesn’t ride. But I don’t get phone calls about her bus. She is 4 years old, and her bus is rarely on time. The worst was when I went to pick her up from daycare, and her bus still wasn’t there. She gets out of school at 2:15 p.m. Her bus didn’t drop her off until 4 p.m. She’s 4 years old,” said a Unit 5 parent.
The Unit 5 parent said her daughter’s bus usually arrives at 2:55 p.m. and decided to call the school at 3:45 p.m. to inquire about her 4-year old’s whereabouts.
“The dispatcher told me she was on a new bus, and the driver couldn’t figure out where here daycare was, so they were driving around trying to figure it out,” said the Unit 5 parent.
The Unit 5 parent said there is a driver and a bus monitor, two adults on the bus.
“Not one could figure out where to go?” said the Unit 5 parent. “My frustration with Unit 5 is that they don’t seem to acknowledge the severity of the issue.”
Weikle said First Student receives call-offs.
“When you have people who call off and they’re sick,” said Weikle. “We don’t want the coming to work and they’re sick. We had 23 routes we couldn’t cover. I think someone asked, ‘Is it because of people [First Student employees] not wanting to test or be vaccinated, is that the case?’ Absolutely not. They’ve had 100% of their drivers that serve Unit 5 either provide proof they are fully vaccinated or participate in the weekly testing. That has nothing to do with why we were short drivers.”
Weikle said the shortages were bad five years ago, but this current shortage is worse than that.
“There is a national shortage,” said Weikle. “I think every trucking company is looking for CDL drivers. There’s lots of people looking for people who hold a CDL license. We do have to follow the transportation rules put upon us by Illinois and the feds for what the criteria is for school bus drivers. If someone is interested I encourage them to reach out to First Student and they will train them.”
Weikle said there is also a teacher shortage. First Student will give first-time drivers a bonus.
Weikle said it isn’t perfect but that they’re doing better than the schools that say, ‘Sorry parents you’re on your own to get your kids to school.’
“[With Unit 5] it’s simply, ‘Sorry guys….we had someone call in.’ When I worked in healthcare, many days I worked understaffed. Never once was quality of care allowed to slip as a result. Yet it’s an allowed excuse here,” said the Unit 5 parent. “My child’s bus is late every day. It’s to the point I’ve looked into taking out a loan to covet the cost of private preschool due to my lack of faith and truth in the public school bussing system.”
