JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Earlier this week, the Duval County Public Schools Superintendent said the district is about 60 drivers short of filling all its current school bus routes.
Dr. Christopher Bernier asked for help filling the vacancies, 50 by Labor Day, and even said he wouldn’t mind having backup drivers.
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He challenged community, civic and faith-based groups in Jacksonville to contribute one member each to drive a school bus for one year.
“If each group could pledge one person from their congregation or their organization to take on the ministry of getting children to and from school safely as a bus driver for one year, our problem would be quickly, quickly solved,” Bernier said.
In the comments section of the story, some current and former school bus drivers mentioned the dangers, stress and low pay.
For example, one comment read
I retired from USMC in 1999. I was considering being a bus driver for DCPS. A friend, and fellow Marine, drove a bus for two years. He was physically assaulted 3 times. He stated he’d reenlist for an Afghanistan tour before driving for DCPS again.
Another read
You pay someone $16 an hour who has to have a special license type and special training and a spotless driving record and who has to put up with Duval public school kids and then wonder why you can’t find enough people to fill the jobs?
APPLY: Be a school bus driver in Duval
DCPS works with Durham School Services and Student Transportation of America to hire bus drivers.
We couldn’t find the pay for drivers on Durham’s website, but Student Transportation of America starts pay at $20 an hour.
Past and current bus drivers, we want to hear from you. Share your experience driving a school bus and what you think would make the job better. Fill out the form below and your response may be read on a Channel 4 newscast.