Nationally as teacher prepare their classrooms for the arrival of this year’s students, their school bus programs in districts are having trouble finding drivers.
That shouldn’t come as a surprise given how often stories of shortages among truck drivers have surfaced: people with a CDL are in high demand.
Javon May recruits drivers for HISD, and says they are ready for school bells to ring in Houston. “We have enough but we always need more. With students constantly coming in to Houston Independent School District daily our routes are constantly changing, we’re constantly adding students to our roster.”
There’s been a lot of turnover in the past year, a number of drivers leaving when classrooms went virtual last year. “They went on to do other things when schools went virtual,” says May.And of curse planning has been hampered by the force of the Delta variant of Covid that is arriving just as the school year gets going. “Covid has really exacerbated our need for drivers.” They will be enforcing social distancing for the bus rides again, and that means fewer kids per bus, which means they need more drivers for additional routes.
HISD is hold their final job fair of the year on Wednesday, August 18, from 9 to noon at the Northwest Motor Pool at 6351 Pinemont. Houston ISD divides the district into four motor pools to make commuting easier on their drivers. Anyone looking to join the ranks of bus drivers in Houston can check at HISD’s website under careers.
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