September, 2024
Hello Bear Families,
It has been an outstanding start to the 2024-25 school year. It is hard to believe that the end of September is already right around the corner!
The number one topic as we moved through the summer and have started this school year has been transportation. So I want to spend some time providing an update and the outlook for the rest of this year.
I want to begin by saying thank you to everyone for their patience as we have navigated the challenges of a driver shortage in transportation. This shortage is a statewide issue, but it has certainly begun to impact our District on a daily basis. We started the year with new stops, new routes and a great deal of change from what we have done in the past. We want to thank our families for their continued support as we have all had to adjust to a new normal.
We started the school year with 39 drivers for 40 routes and quickly fell to 38 drivers. The good news is that we just finished getting three new people through the process of being licensed and hopefully out on the road by the time this communication gets to families. We also have several additional driver candidates who are in the same process. We offered an increased wage, free training, and a signing bonus last spring, which has attracted some interest. We will continue to do all we can to recruit and retain drivers.
We plan to put together a committee this year to explore our next course of action if we cannot keep up with the hiring needed to run at full capacity (that would be approximately 45 drivers for 40 routes). We would like to add routes to move back towards where we used to operate, but we will have to evaluate our circumstances as we move throughout the year.
As a District we are going to face some challenges together. We need to continue to communicate what we know and problem-solve to provide the best possible service we can for our families. If we have fewer people than we need to do the job, that service will need to change. So please encourage anyone who may be interested to reach out and apply to be a driver – even if it is in a substitute role or part-time.
Have a great month!
Mike Laub
Superintendent
North Royalton City Schools
michael.laub@northroyaltonsd.org
440-237-8800
