DALLAS — Students riding the bus within the Dallas Independent School District are feeling the effects of a bus driver shortage that the district is working overtime to manage and resolve.
Dallas County Schools used to operate buses for the district, but no longer after voters decided to close its doors last year amid a corruption scandal that took down Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway.
Caraway has since pleaded guilty to federal charges.
Meaning this new school year is a unique one for DISD since it’s now running its own bus fleet for the first time.
More than $50 million and more than 1,000 employees later, bussing students isn’t exactly a perfect science for DISD.
Two weeks into the school year the district is wrestling with a bus driver shortage and delayed routes.
Not only that, the district’s transportation chief handed in his resignation this week so he could go to a similar job in Houston.
Spokeswoman Robyn Harris told WFAA that the district needs about 100 drivers and is hoping to plug the hole quick after holding a recent job fair that netted over 600 applications.
In fact, a handful of newly hired drivers started training this week, according to Harris. But that training isn’t exactly swift and could take a few weeks before more drivers hit the road.
The launch of DISD’s new bussing system hasn’t been the greatest for Chris Roberts’ family.
His 11-year-old daughter, Victoria, goes to Alex W. Spence Gifted and Talented Academy, a magnet school that requires good STAAR scores and an essay application to get accepted.
Roberts said that his daughter rode the bus last year, and would normally get home at about 4:30 p.m.
This year, he says that she’s been getting home at about 6:20 p.m. consistently. Not great if you’re juggling a lot of homework.
“Two and a half hours on a bus with no bathroom after getting let out from school would be tough for me or just about anyone else,” Roberts said. “It’s not like we’re driving to Austin or Waco—it’s two hours within the city limits.”
According to Roberts, his daughter goes from Spence to Sam Houston Elementary, then Obadiah Knight Elementary, Preston Hollow Elementary, Arthur Kramer Elementary, Anne Frank Elementary, and then finally to DeGolyer Elementary where he picks Victoria up.
Not only that, Roberts said that Victoria rarely makes it to school on time. He says the first bell is at 8:20 a.m., and that she hasn’t made it on time since school started.
One time, he said that she was 45 minutes late. Roberts made a deal with his job to come in a little late so that he could drop his daughter off.
“Math is the first period, and definitely one of the core subjects I want her to get full time in,” Roberts said.
And Roberts isn’t the only parent wishing the wheels on the bus could go faster. Bradley Seibert says that his son doesn’t get off his bus from City Lab High School until 6:15 p.m.
“It’s the last stop so we expect it to dilly dally, but 6:15 p.m. seems a little bit much,” Seibert said. “We only get about two hours to see him every night, and that’s not advantageous to keeping the family harmony.”
While DISD is just doing the best with the situation it was given, Roberts said he wants them to do better.
“It pushes things to the limit,” Roberts said. “If she gets home on time, she gets more time for homework, dinner, getting ready for bed, and she gets some time to be a kid.”