AUBURN – Tom Emmertz makes sure his 28 bus drivers are careful, conscientious and experienced. It’s his job to see that the city’s 3,500 students get to and from school safely, and it’s a job he takes seriously.
But now Emmertz is worried that a new federal test – designed to improve safety – will cost him the very drivers he needs to get that job done.
“Older drivers may say it’s time to retire. It may sway some of them to leave,” said Emmertz, the transportation manager. “It’s just another hurdle to jump.”
And with a shortage of bus drivers in Maine, he’s afraid he won’t have the workers to replace them.
Of the 8,000 licensed school bus drivers in the state, only 3,000 are currently working. The severity of the shortage varies from season to season and from school system to school system, officials said. In Auburn, for example, driver shortages occur a couple of times a year.
Under regulations issued by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration earlier this winter, all school bus drivers are required to take a written test on managing students, handling railroad crossings, evacuating the bus during emergencies and dealing with the vehicle’s danger zone. Although drivers must take an exam to get their licenses, this is the first time the government has tested drivers on student and bus safety issues.
Drivers who refuse to take the exam, or fail to pass it, won’t be allowed to work after the end of September.
The test includes 20 multiple-choice questions and it isn’t expected to be difficult, but some veteran drivers consider the forced exam demeaning. Others are annoyed at having to do one more thing for a job that creates high stress and offers low pay.
Hogwash’
Doris St. Pierre, a bus driver for 24 years, said she learned about the new test a few weeks ago. She doesn’t feel the exam is necessary for drivers who have a good record.
Some of her Auburn co-workers have already started talking about leaving, she said, even though drivers have until Sept. 30 to pass.
“I’m too young to retire, so I can’t. But a couple of them have mentioned it in the lunchroom. They just don’t want to put up with it,” she said.
In SAD 17, which includes eight Oxford Hills-area towns, bus driver Linda Lawler said she has heard similar rumblings from her co-workers.
“Some of them have said, Do I want to do this? This is hogwash,'” she said.
Lawler, who has been driving for nine years and trains others, called the test a “hassle.” But she said she isn’t about to leave her job over it.
Kevin Mallory, president of the Maine Association for Pupil Transportation, said he’s talked to others with similar concerns. Since there’s a shortage of drivers, he said, many school officials don’t know how they would fill open positions.
A rural problem
He believes cities may not have much of a problem finding replacement drivers because they have a larger population from which to recruit. Rural schools, he said, may have issues.
“My gut feeling is it’s going to be felt in some areas,” he said.
Drivers will start taking the test in April. The Maine Association for Pupil Transportation will offer pre-test workshops and will allow drivers to take the test during its regional conferences this spring.
Drivers can take the test as many times as they need to pass.
Because workers won’t start taking the exam for another six weeks, officials remain hopeful that the initial surprise will wear off and veteran drivers will accept the new requirement.
Said Theresa Samson, owner of Hudson Bus Lines in Lewiston, “I’m keeping my fingers crossed.”
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