Fort Worth ISD has had to shift schedules to accommodate late-arriving buses after a shortage of drivers and earlier start times.
If anyone could clone themselves it would be school bus drivers like Rufus Huckabee in Fort Worth ISD. His job is becoming harder for all the wrong reasons, like fewer drivers.
"There's usually a need since COVID, I think everything took a hit," said Huckabee.
There are more students, more special programs and classes that require kids to be bused to different buildings and few bus drivers to do it. Many of the drivers they do have aren't showing up for work. It's gotten so bad teachers have pleaded not just with their principals, but showed up repeatedly at the school board, begging for help.
"Is it OK for special needs students to miss an entire first period for an entire week? It's starting to be a real problem," one teacher told the board.
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Kellie Spencer is in charge of transportation for Fort Worth ISD.
"So when you're dealing with the shortage and then drivers absent, it just is very difficult to manage," she said.
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Besides the big bus driver shortage, start times in the district have made things even harder.
"Elementary starts at 7:50, high schools at 8:15, and middle schools at nine o'clock. And our programs of choice have varying start times. So we're dealing with eight different start times across the district," said Spencer.
The quick fix, first period in some schools is no longer instructional time, but a time to meet with advisors, that way if kids are late they're not missing class.
Long-term the district is buying new software, and trying to hire more drivers like Rufus to get behind the wheel.
He likes the job because it's early morning and late in the day hours, and he's free during the day to work on his business.
But while the shortage still exists, it's the students who are paying the price, with a shifted school day due to a complex busing system the district is working to get right.
