The brand new school year could be off to a rough start for hundreds of students if the Clark County School District can't fill nearly 70 open bus driver positions.
Monica Knoebel is a CCSD bus driver and in just days she and about 1,600 others will report for duty.
"I love my kids, last year I even had some parents invite me over for dinner after the school year, that's how much I bond with my kids and parents," said Knoebel.
The job has many perks according to Knoebel.
She says competitive starting pay, pension, 9 month work schedule, holidays and weekends off plus a split shift makes it a perfect fit for her.
"I enjoy having the afternoon to myself and then going back to drop them off safe and sound," said Knoebel.
"I enjoy coming home and enjoying my evening," added Knoebel.
The perks work for some but the district is having trouble filling the positions and officials say the improved economy means there's more jobs for qualified candidates to choose from.
"It's going to be tremendous, delays, overcrowding, and I would expect some upset parents," predicted Knoebel regarding the current shortage.
Contact 13 documented the transportation troubles during the entire 2017-2018 school year.
Russ Reynolds and his daughter Mallory had their own bus battle.
"Every time it's late or it doesn't show up, I'm on the phone calling and I am on the phone holding, but I can hold for days, I don't care," said Reynolds in April 2018.
Reynolds painstakingly recorded every late and no show bus for the year and when he got to 28 he just stopped counting.
A Clark County School District spokesperson released the following statements about the bus driver shortage:
“Clark County School District bus drivers are often the first to greet students at the start of a school day and the last to send them off at the end of the day.
They are a valuable component of the education day and are heavily relied upon.
Approximately 96% of the district's bus driver positions are filled, with about 63 vacancies out of 1,640 positions.This is not an unusual number of vacancies. Several additional drivers are expected to return prior to the first day of school.
Routes that do not have a permanent driver assigned to them are staffed by others in the Transportation Department who have commercial driving experience.
CCSD continually works to fill bus driver positions year-round in a variety of ways including on-the-job paid training for qualified candidates, a one-stop shop center to assist with the application process, and creating innovative ways to provide transportation staff with full-time employment when possible.
CCSD’s bus driver staffing levels adjust based on a number of factors including retirement, medical reasons, promotions or transfers within the district, moving out of state, obtaining outside employment or for other varying reasons."
Mauricio Marin
Clark County School District Spokesperson
