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Bus driver shortage and pandemic threaten HPS transportation operations

The bus driver shortage persists nationwide as the COVID-19 pandemic continues, and Havre Public Schools' transportation operations have been affected by this lack of staff, as well.

Havre Public Schools Facilities and Transportation Director Scott Filius said the district did recently hire one more driver and no events have been canceled for lack of transportation, but that has the potential to change, and they are still struggling, regardless.

Filius said they have relief drivers running routes not covered by standard drivers, so they are able to cover their routes, but it's never a good thing to have relief drivers constantly tied up.

He said the department has eliminated three routes in the past two years but could easily get one back if they had the staff.

"The drivers we have are very experienced, dedicated, do a great job; we could just use more of them," he said.

Filius said the issue has also been affecting transportation to sporting events and other activities.

While he said no events have had to be canceled for lack of transportation they have needed to combine transportation for different events.

Havre High School Assistant Principal and Activites Director Director Kevin Nettleton said they recently had to have cross country and golf teams ride in the same bus to events, and soon the latter team will need to do the same with the volleyball team.

Nettleton said they've also had to make use of the district's vans to get students to events.

"It's been difficult for us here in Havre, yeah. But we've always worked (to) make sure that everything happens, and come up with a solution," he said.

Filius said the pandemic has the potential to compound these staffing issues further if drivers need to quarantine for COVID-19.

While he said they are still able to provide transportation to all events, if even a few drivers are lost to quarantine that may no longer be the case.

He said they aren't there yet, but it remains a serious concern given the county's skyrocketing cases, and if enough drivers are kept home, decisions will need to be made about what events get transportation.

Filius said the people at the transportation department are hardworking and will do their best to make sure that doesn't happen, but if it does they will deal with it as best they can.

He said bus drivers are being diligent about wearing masks and protecting themselves and students, but getting the students to follow suit can be an issue.

"It's a daily struggle for drivers," he said, "getting kids to comply."

He said the fact that mask wearing on buses is mandated by the federal government, not by the district, takes some of the bite out of the rule.

Whether this reluctance was born of students being generally uncooperative or the influence of their parents, Filius said he did not want to guess.

He said getting a new driver, who will be starting soon, is a big help, but the fact that drivers need to go through a month-long process, at least, to get trained, certified and approved does slow things down considerably.

"You can't just go hire some one and put them in a bus," he said.

Both Filius and Nettleton said they and their colleagues are working hard but didn't want to speculate too much about what would need to happen if the problem gets worse, saying they don't want to speak about hypotheticals.

 

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