NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. — Due to the current bus driver shortage, Niagara Falls City School District is considering cutting 30 minutes of instructional class time for high school students in order to get them home at a more reasonable time.
The district needs 60 bus drivers to transport students at the end of the day.
Niagara Falls Coach Line is the bus company contracted with the district, they currently have 45 drivers available. However, Superintendent Mark Laurrie said on any day there could be between 6 to 10 driver absences leaving the district with only 35 drivers.
Laurrie said the problem is school dismissal times. He said the elementary school and high school both get out at 3 P.M. Since the start of the school year, the district has had buses pick up the elementary kids first and take them home. Then the buses would circle back and get the high school students.
However, Laurrie said that system is not working. High school students are getting home as late as 5:30 and he said that’s unacceptable.
He is proposing what he deems a ‘radical change’ to remove 30 minutes from the high school schedule to have students dismissed at 2:30 instead of 3 p.m. Those buses would then go and pick up elementary students at 3 p.m.
This change would mean that teachers would need to cut 3 minutes of instructional time per period to make up for the 30 minutes.
“We’ve had this problem now for eight or nine weeks and it hasn’t gotten better and now I think it’s time for a radical change,” said Laurrie.
Laurrie said that having high school students wait up to 90 minutes for a bus has led to arguments and even fights between students. In addition to that, students have complained about being late to part-time jobs after school.
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When asked how long this change would be in effect, Laurrie said it would be temporary until the bus driver shortage is under control. However, he said he does not anticipate that happening this school year.
This change would not impact the 990 minutes that students are required to be in the classroom.
In September, Governor Kathy Hochul announced a statewide initiative to recruit 550,000 people with CDL licenses to drive school buses. Monday, a spokesperson for Governor Hochul shared that a list of 381 people in Western New York with CDL licenses was sent to school districts.
However, Laurrie said Niagara Falls Coach Line contacted everyone in the vicinity of Niagara Falls, including Lockport and Kenmore, and only got interest from 5 to 7 people.
“That’s not anywhere near enough,” said Laurrie.
Another obstacle all districts are facing is that it takes 7 -10 weeks of training before a candidate can fill a vacancy.
The district has had preliminary talks with the Niagara Falls Transit Authority about utilizing their buses but Laurrie said those talks are just in the beginning stages.
Parents and the school board have been notified about this potential change and could take effect anywhere between November 1 and November 8.