Howard County’s new school bus contractor flew in 70 drivers. It still faced a shortage.

 Howard County school buses: Zum flew in 70 drivers and was still shorthanded - The Baltimore Banner

Montgomery Co. reinstates extra route bonus for school bus drivers

Maryland school districts have struggled the last two years to hold on to their school bus operators in the middle of a nationwide shortage. Montgomery County is hoping a few more bucks in drivers’ pockets will keep them at the wheel.

Montgomery County Public Schools Superintendent Monifa McKnight said school bus drivers will once again receive a $25 bonus for each extra route driven. If there’s an extra route in the morning and another in the afternoon that would add $50 a day to the operator’s pay.

The bonuses were paid during part of the last school year but were terminated at the end of the school year...

Montgomery Co. reinstates extra route bonus for school bus drivers - WTOP News

MCPS Bus Drivers, Teachers Complain of Working Conditions, Pay

During Thursday’s Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) Board of Education meeting, union representatives for teachers and bus drivers expressed deep concern about their working conditions.

Kelvin Brown of SEIU Local 500 complained about a shortage of drivers, low pay and too many no school, no pay days, including during winter and spring breaks.

“Bus drivers are overworked and underpaid,” he said. Drivers sometimes must double and triple back on routes to make sure all students are transported “while not being compensated” for the extra time.

Brown also said some routes that aren’t covered due to a shortage of drivers aren’t always listed on the MCPS transportation website. Therefore, families are not warned and don’t have time to come up with alternate transportation...

...Jennifer Martin, president of the Montgomery County Education Association, spoke out about a teacher shortage. There are more than 200 teachers lacking proper certification have been hired for this school year, she said.

Also, she noted that as of Oct. 17. there were 268 unfilled positions, 66 of them in special education...

MCPS Bus Drivers, Teachers Complain of Working Conditions, Pay - Montgomery Community Media (mymcmedia.org)

@mcps Still Not Able to Run all Summer School Buses

 The following summer program bus routes do not have coverage for the morning of July 21. This list is up to date as of 7:45 a.m.

Route #	AM Schools	PM Schools
S2422	Northwest HS @Clemente/Darnestown	Northwest HS @Clement/Darnestown ES
S2502	Poolesville HS/ Maryvale ES	Poolesville HS/Maryvale ES
S2110	Clarksburg HS/Gibbs/Clarksburg ES	Clarksburg HS/Gibbs/Clarksburg ES

@mcps Still Can't Find Bus Drivers for Summer Programs, Including Special Education Schools

 IMPORTANT MESSAGE: 7/18/2022 at 8:02 AM -- Refresh page to update message

The following bus routes will not be served on July 18 due to staffing challenges, S2422, 2502, 2216, 2307, 4304, 4415, 4237, 4605 and 4406. Visit the Department of Transportation website for up to date information

The following summer program bus routes do not have coverage for the morning of July 18. This list is up to date as of  8:00 a.m.

 

Route #	AM Schools	PM Schools
S2422	Northwest HS & Darnestown ES	Northwest HS & Darnestown ES
S2502	Poolesville HS & Maryvale ES	Poolesville HS & Maryvale ES
S2216	Clarksburg HS & Little Bennet ES	Clarksburg HS & Little Bennet ES
S2307	Jones Lane ES & Marshall ES	Jones Lane ES & Marshall ES
S4304		Rica  &  Matsunaga ES
S4415	Longview	Longview
S4237	Seneca Valley HS   &  Watkins Mill ES	Seneca Valley HS   &  Watkins Mill ES
S4605	Katherine Thomas	Beall ES   &   Katherine Thomas
S4406	Longview	Longview

@mcps Can't Find Bus Drivers for 13 Schools for Summer Programs?

IMPORTANT MESSAGE: 7/11/2022 at 7:00 AM

The following bus routes will not be served on July 11 due to staffing challenges, S2107, S2220, S2402, S2422, S2426. Visit the Department of Transportation website for up to date information

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/transportation/

FOX5: Montgomery County parents, teachers frustrated by COVID spikes, staffing shortages

https://www.fox5dc.com/video/1020616

Cluster Detail on MCPS Bus Routes Impacted Today 1/5 By Absence of 90 Bus Drivers

From Montgomery County Public Schools at 9:08 AM January 5, 2022: 

MCPS Bus Routes Affected by Unexpected Unavailable Drivers

Due to a higher-than-expected numbers of bus drivers calling out this morning, multiple routes are affected today, Wed. Jan. 5. Out of our 1228 bus routes we are unable to service 90 bus routes. The routes not able to service students are listed below. If you do not know your bus route number, you can find that on this website. Families are encouraged to organize carpools or to walk in groups if possible.

We apologize for this inconvenience and understand the difficulty this causes for families. Given these circumstances today we are working to better understand the problem and will provide further communication to let families know how we will solve this issue.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bus Routes by Cluster can be found at this link. 

BCC Cluster:

1111

1116

1122

1125

1126

1127

Churchill Cluster:

1204

1208

1214

1216

1220

1226

Walter Johnson Cluster: 

1302

1304

1305

1312

1319

Whitman Cluster:

1414

Damascus Cluster:

2102

2109

2119

Poolesville & QO Clusters: 

2310

2310

2318

Northwest & Seneca Valley Clusters: 

2402

2406

2410

2411

2413

2418

Clarksburg Cluster: 

2602

2604

2606

2611

2618

2628

Einstein Cluster: 

3101

3107

3116

Kennedy & Northwood Clusters:

3206

3210

3216

Sherwood Cluster: 

3302

3315

3319

3335

Wheaton Cluster: 

3420

Kennedy & Northwood Clusters: 

3506

3511

Unknown: 

3801

3805

3806

3808

3820

3821

3824

3826

3829

3832

3833

3836

3859

3863

3864

3870

Gaithersburg Cluster: 

4103

4119

4123

4133

4135

Magruder Cluster: None

Watkins Mill Cluster:

4306

4307

4313

4315

Unknown:

4847

Richard Montgomery Cluster: None

Rockville Cluster: None

Wootton Cluster: None

Blair Cluster:

6109

6112

Paint Branch & Blake Clusters:

6221

Sprngbrook Cluster: 

6308

6310

6315

6318

6319

6331

East County Special Education Cluster: 

6811

6812

6836

6880

6896

6913

6975

6981

6991

6992

School Bus Driver ‘Sick Out' Spurs Charles County Maryland School District to Livestream Classes

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL PLAGUED BY LATE AND OVERCROWDED BUSES

...According to the job posting on MCPS’ web page, the salary for a bus operator is $19.53 an hour after that person has obtained a Commercial Drivers License. It is listed as a fulltime job but then explains “Full-Time means working 20- to 40-hours per week” and comes with full time benefits.

Carolyn Kaliza drove a school bus for MCPS for about three years and loved the job. However, she said she had to quit, because working four hours a day, or 20 hours a week, did not provide her with enough money...

https://www.mymcmedia.org/first-day-of-school-plagued-by-late-and-overcrowded-buses/

COUNTY PUSHES ‘WALKING SCHOOL BUS’ PROGRAM AS ALTERNATIVE TO CARS AND BUSES

With Montgomery County’s push to eliminate serious and fatal collisions by 2030, and Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) still in need of about 100 bus drivers, the Department of Transportation is encouraging families and neighbors to become a Walking School Bus.

A Walking School Bus is a parent or guardian-organized effort, much like a carpool, but instead of using cars, the groups walk to and from school together. There would be at least one adult leading each group on a set route that includes pick up and drop off points...

https://www.mymcmedia.org/county-pushes-walking-school-bus-program-as-alternative-to-cars-and-buses/

New trial dates set for former [MCPS] bus driver who sexually assaulted students

A criminal responsibility trial has been scheduled for a former Montgomery County Public Schools bus driver accused of sexually assaulting students with special needs while driving his routes.

Etienne Kabongo, 65, was arrested in August 2018 and charged with molesting a 12-year-old girl a month earlier, an act that police said was caught on the bus’s surveillance camera...

https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/schools/new-trial-dates-set-for-former-bus-driver-who-sexually-assaulted-students/

Boy Injured by MCPS School Bus Will Get His Day in Court

The boy’s mother, Bertha Forgwei, of Silver Spring, said her son became scared after he left the bus at the wrong Aspen Hill stop in October 2015 and began to run after the bus as it pulled away, according to the lawsuit.

As he ran alongside the bus, which was moving at 6 mph, the boy tripped and tires ran over his legs, causing injuries that confined him to a wheelchair for several months and forced his parents to quit their jobs to provide care, the lawsuit claims...

https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/county-school-board-bus-driver-accused-of-negligence-causing-young-boy-to-be-run-over-by-bus/

MCPS school bus driver has been sentenced to 11 months in prison for inappropriately touching 11-year-old girls on his bus

https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Bus-Driver-Sentenced-to-11-Months-for-Touching-Girls_Washington-DC-480183023.html

[MCPS] Harrison said that the school system conducts its own inquiry when an employee is charged with abusing a student #DoesNotCallCPS

Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Gazette:  Bates remained in substitute bus aide pool after he was fired from MCPS
by Meghan Tierney | Staff Writer

A former special education instructional assistant recently charged with sexually abusing a Germantown girl five years ago was fired from a county high school in 2000 after being accused and later acquitted of making sexual advances toward a female student.
Vernon Eugene Bates, now 41, of Washington, D.C., turned himself in on March 24 in the Germantown case involving a then 16-year-old girl.
According to a January 2000 article in The Gazette, he was also arrested on child sex abuse charges on Dec. 15, 1999, after allegedly sexually touching a then-17-year-old girl while giving her a ride to the Wheaton Metro station. Bates was employed as a special education instructional assistant and assistant football coach at Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring at the time.
MCPS placed Bates on paid administrative leave the day he was charged, and fired him in January 2000, according to Kate Harrison, a Montgomery County Public Schools spokeswoman.
Bates was found not guilty during a jury trial and the charges were later expunged, according to Cpl. Tracie Copeland, a Montgomery County Police spokeswoman. Police and court records are no longer available because the case was cleared from his criminal record, but according to an article that appeared in The Washington Post at the time, he was found not guilty of second-degree assault and a fourth-degree sexual offense after a three-day jury trial in Montgomery County Circuit Court in 2000.
Despite being fired from his staff job, Bates remained on an MCPS list of substitute bus attendants from August 1999 until February 2002, Harrison said. He was never called to service during the four years he was in the database, she said.
It is unclear why Bates was allowed to be on the substitute driver list given his firing, Harrison said, noting that Bates passed a background check when he was hired as a bus attendant. MCPS also moved to another database system during the years Bates was in the pool, she said.
Bates applied for the bus attendant position before he was hired as an instructional assistant, Harrison said. Names are dropped from the database if they are not called up after a certain period of time, she said.
Harrison did not know if the substitute pool is ever screened after an employee is hired or how the attendants are placed when the need arises.
‘‘This is an unusual situation,” she said. ‘‘I think we can assume his name would have been flagged.”
Bates’ Silver Spring-based attorney, Teresa Whalen, did not return a call for comment.Harrison said that the school system conducts its own inquiry when an employee is charged with abusing a student but did not know if Bates’ case had been investigated. The decision on whether to fire a worker is made on a case-by-case basis, she said.
Harrison declined to provide further information, citing employee confidentiality concerns.
Bates was most recently charged with sexually abusing a minor, second-degree assault and fourth-degree sexual offense after the now-21-year-old daughter of his former girlfriend told police he had sexually touched her when she was 16, according to police. The abuse occurred on two separate occasions in April 2003, according to police charging documents filed in District Court.
Bates, who frequently spent the night at the family’s home, exposed himself on one of the occasions, the documents state. He also told the alleged victim’s mother that he had been ‘‘inappropriate” with the teen after the incidents occurred, according to the documents.
The girl came forward to police in February after a recent telephone conversation with Bates in which he ‘‘took ‘accountability’ for his behavior and [said] ‘it was not your fault, you didn’t deserve it,’” the documents state.
Bates was released on $50,000 bond, police said. A preliminary hearing is scheduled May 2.
Bates was working as a personal trainer at Washington Sports Club, located at 6828 Wisconsin Ave. in Bethesda, when he turned himself in to police, police reported. He was known to have associations with teenage girls at the club, according to a police statement.