Prairie Spirit School Division facing bus driver shortage

The wheels on the bus do not go round and round for one school division in Saskatchewan.

The Prairie Spirit School Division said it is facing a “critical issue” when it comes to staffing bus drivers.

The rural school division with 11,000 students and 47 schools surrounding a wide area outside of Saskatoon has typically had issues staffing enough drivers but COVID-19 is compounding that problem more than ever.

“A couple of years ago, a bus driver gets up in the morning and they aren’t feeling well, they would miss maybe a day or two for work,” deputy director Tracey Young said.

“Now, their absence may be three or four days. They could be gone up to 14 days.”

Without a large pool of regional substitute drivers, Young said there has been no choice but to postpone or cancel some routes.

“We’ve experienced it more in the last week or two where we’ve had to cancel a route,” Young said. “We really see that as a critical issue. We know that not all parents are able to transport their students and we don’t want children missing school because they don’t have a bus.”

Prairie Spirit sent a letter to parents earlier this week notifying them of the shortage and also asking them to publicize the need for drivers in their communities.

“We have had a few more folks interested in getting on the sub pool,” Young said of the applicants trickling in since the letter went out on Tuesday.

Drivers receive free training with all licensing fees and costs covered. Young children are able to ride along on rural routes and drivers follow the same calendar as the school division.