in Montgomery County, Maryland’s largest district, Montgomery County Public Schools is being walloped on both ends: by delayed deliveries of new buses due to a lack of computer chips for the buses’ air-conditioning systems and a shortage of people to drive them.

 

No bus driver? Schools are paying parents to drive their own kids as economic disruptions hit classrooms.

...Washoe County School District in Nevada is offering $2,000 bonuses to new bus drivers, while Montgomery County Public Schools is enlisting mechanics, supervisors and other employees to pick up routes as it races to hire 100 new drivers before school opens at the end of the month.

“There’s always a fair amount of turnover, but it’s worse this year because we got behind the curve during covid,” said Todd Watkins, director of transportation for the Maryland school district. “We offer great benefits, but there can be disadvantages to this job: You work a split shift so you don’t get eight hours a day. You don’t have good summer employment. So there are a fair amount of people who think the grass is greener someplace else.”..

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/08/16/school-shortages-bus-drivers-counselors-computer/?fbclid=IwAR2HwhCxCrikkZ2hfHTTknhCPKh8DrFzCTUVbKUDmMWyLfyp1oi-rXYBRyY