If it’s between 7:30 and 8:15 am on a weekday when you leave the house, you probably know precisely which intersection or streets you will avoid. Nobody wants to get stuck behind the school bus and stop repeatedly, but even more, nobody wants to get stuck in parent drop-off traffic.
At that time, an intersection near me has a traffic guard holding a sign to direct traffic. I know this because I pass her when I take my kid to school, as do dozens of other parents making the daily drop-off. Despite her work, that whole intersection can end up blocked with parents waiting to enter the school lot.
Those drivers who aren’t utilizing that road for a drop-off are probably more than a little annoyed at the backup that inevitably happens — but do parents have many choices?
Parent Drop-Off Enrages Other Drivers
The Atlantic today describes the school drop-off situation as “a nightmare” and “mayhem.” It cites drivers who’ve told various news publications about their frustrations, about not leaving the house during a certain period of time due to school traffic and parents who complain about the time-suck of the line.
Parents on social media make similar and related complaints. One parent (seen below) described how angry drivers exhibit bad behavior near schools and endanger the kids. And last year, a Redditor posted in apparent annoyance to ask parents why they drive their kids instead of sending them by bus, saying:
“Now that the school year has started, every morning there’s always traffic especially around schools. There’s always a backup of cars of parents dropping their kids off at school even though their are buses available to take kids to school.”
Others who agreed piled on, saying kids should be walking or biking if they can’t take the bus, and parents are coddling their kids and making them too dependent.
Don’t They Know There’s A Bus Shortage?
It’s a not-so-fun fact that the U.S. has been suffering a serious shortage of bus drivers for years. The problem has been evident at least since the return to school after the COVID-19 shutdowns when labor shortages seemed to hit almost every field of work at once.
This year, many districts started without sufficient buses to get kids to school. In our district, parents received notices that kids who hadn’t already received a bus number would have a chance as soon as the shortage was addressed and seats were available. That happened a few weeks into the school year, and in the meantime, community leaders made efforts to ensure every kid had a way to school. They called on churches and other organizations to help, and a new ride-share business even offered rates focused on school transportation.
It still left many parents struggling, and not every district has leaped forward with the support for students and parents that mine has.
Almost Every District Is Affected By The Shortage
A survey of school districts found that more than 90% are struggling with a driver shortage, EdWeek reports. Some are raising pay in order to attract and keep drivers, and others are cutting routes instead.
That means there are more kids across the country who are looking for bus rides to and from school and simply being denied. Their parents can drive them or hire a ride-share, but they’ll just find themselves without access to that free public education every child in the United States is supposed to be promised.
Other schools are doubling up — each bus rides one route, and then another. Kids might not get home until hours after school is dismissed, and mornings hardly bear talking about. Maybe I’m just part of that generation raising too-soft kids, but I don’t believe a child should ever have to climb on a school bus before 6am. That’s just not okay with me.
Location, Location, Location
Walking to school might mean a few blocks for kids who live in a city. It can be quite a distance in more rural areas and may not be over safe terrain.
My location is a great example — there’s an elementary school within walking distance, but the middle school is 5 miles away and would require traversing a highway. The high school is similarly distant. It’s just not happening. And there aren’t even bears involved here — where we used to live, we sometimes saw them on the drive to school.
It’s easy to demand that kids today do what you knew as the norm twenty or forty years ago, but they really aren’t living in the same world, and the options are not the same.
The Wage Stalemate Is Part Of The Problem
Pay in the U.S. is stagnant. Bus drivers are among the many professions that are overworked and underpaid — NEA Today‘s analysis of bus driver pay finds that since 2006, bus drivers have been paid around 60% of the average working wage. That’s a clear incentive to leave the profession for a different industry.
Throw in weird hours that make it hard to work a second job and still stretch out into a long day, and the struggle of keeping a few dozen (or more) kids under some semblance of control while piloting a 40-foot-long 12-ton vehicle, and yes, it’s easy to understand why someone might decide to spend their day dipping french fries in hot oil instead.
What Can We Do About It?
Well, drivers can certainly try to be understanding. Even if you don’t have kids, an educated populace benefits you, so everyone could take a minute to appreciate that their future doctors, cashiers, tax preparers, and mechanics are learning how to read, do math, and understand science.
School districts and their local officials can also work together (as some are doing!) to make more efficient setups or stagger dropoff to reduce the size of lines at any given time. Parents can also make an effort to make sure backpacks are ready and last kisses and fistbumps are given before they reach the dropoff point to keep things moving.
As for buses, if we want them to be the primary form of transportation for students, we’re all (not just bus drivers and parents) going to have to advocate for better pay and more support for drivers.
