The Haverhill School Committee and administrators last Thursday discussed steps to avert bus driver shortages and communications issues in advance of children returning to classes Tuesday.
At the request of Vice Chair Paul A. Magliocchetti, representatives of NRT Bus said they believe they have enough drivers and staff for the start of the school year. Haverhill office Operations Manager Michelle Perez said the company is contracted to provide 35 of the big school buses and has a driver for each, 15 special needs minibuses with 11 regular drivers and temporary replacements from its van fleet for the remainder and eight more completing training for commercial driver’s licenses.
“We’ve got the routes, the drivers are doing dry runs, going through all of their checks and that’s pretty much where we’re at right now,” she said.
School Committee member Thomas Grannemann however, questioned whether NRT has adequate staffing to fill in for any absent drivers. He noted the bus company was understaffed at the start of last school year and did not have enough backup capability.
“You said it’s fully staffed, but it didn’t say…how much backup you have and that you’re confident we’re not going to have any missed buses because of that situation this year,” he said.
Perez responded two of her office staff are licensed and can fill in for any absences as well as four who will complete training. In addition, she said, her district works with closely other NRT areas for backup. Ryan Brophy, NRT’s director of client relations, added the company’s goal is 110% staffing—saying it believes that margin is enough to cover emergencies.
Committee member Richard J. Rosa noted previous driver shortages were the result of “Haverhill bus drivers were being paid the least of everyone else.” Brophy said the pay situation is now in line, “near the top,” with minibus drivers who hold commercial licenses now paid $29.87 per hour; bus drivers, $31.83; 7D van drivers, $23; and bus monitors, $17 per hour.
Perez said her team is in constant communication with city transportation staff via telephone and email, starting with a coverage and substitute vehicle report at 6:30 a.m. Member Yonnie Collins, however, expressed concern parents aren’t getting timely information.
“You have to communicate with our staff and then our staff to the principals and the principals to families. My concern is that families who are impacted the most by the decisions that are made are not receiving communication quickly enough, and it seems to be a breakdown,” she said.
School Superintendent Margaret Marotta noted the problem is often out-of-date information. “Sometimes parents have old email addresses or old phone numbers so we’ve asked all of the principals at the beginning of the year to send out instructions to people to remind them to update the information—here’s how you do it in SchoolBrains. We do that at the beginning of the year because sometimes people register when their kids are seven or eight and now they’re 16 and they’ve got totally different contacts,” she explained.
School staff reports to school Monday morning and students from first through eighth grade return to classes tomorrow.