Parents face daily delays and uncertainty due to bus driver shortage
Two parents discuss dealing with bus driver shortage.
Two Maryland mothers explained to "Fox & Friends" on Thursday how they face daily delays and uncertainty due to school bus driver shortage in their community.
"It’s craziness, it’s chaos. My oldest is in middle school. He is a seventh-grader and then I have three in elementary school," said Anne Arundel County resident Davi Dewberry.
Dewberry described mornings before school as "chaotic." Getting her children to school has been "hectic" and caused her to have "anxiety through the roof" due to the shortage of bus drivers.
"My son is the one that’s having the biggest problem with the bus not showing up at all. So we’re having to, at the last minute, scramble to get him to school and get my daughters ready … so it’s chaos in the mornings."
The shortage of drivers has become a nationwide issue. Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker activated the National Guard on Monday to help transport students in several cities across the state to school amid a widespread bus driver shortage plaguing the return to in-person instruction.
The governor’s order makes up to 250 Massachusetts National Guard personnel available, and 90 of those Guard members will begin training on Tuesday to serve as drivers of school transport vans known as 7D vehicles to address staffing shortages in district including Chelsea, Lawrence, Lowell, and Lynn. 7D vehicles are smaller pupil transport vans that can hold a maximum of 11 people, including the driver under Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles regulations in effect since July 1, 2020.
Another Anne Arundel County parent, Cheryl Suite, said one of her two daughters has a lot of anxiety issues this year due to the situation.
"Last year she wasn’t physically in school due to the Covid-19 outbreak, so this is her actual first year going into middle school. And with the bus situation, it’s adding more stress to her," Suite said.
Mornings before school are "very crazy," Suite said, adding she's uncertain if she can keep her new job if she has to keep driving her kids to school.
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Suite believes the school district did not think about bus transportation before opening schools up after the COVID-19 shutdown.
"Think they need to possibly waive people having CDL’s, and try to increase the hourly rate for people who are going to be driving the buses. They really need to find and come up with some kind of good solution. It’s only the second week in school and I mean, if this continues, who knows what’s going to happen?"
Fox News' Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.
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