Superintendent: Auburn school bus driver shortage a ‘crisis’

AUBURN — An increasing shortage of bus drivers in the Auburn school district has led to canceled runs the past few weeks, Superintendent Cornelia Brown told the School Committee on Wednesday night.

“(It’s) not a great position to be in, but as you folks know, I’m pretty plain spoken about most things and this is one of the things I just can’t put any sugar on. It’s a crisis and we need to deal with it as best as we can,” she said.

In some cases, parents have been notified the morning of classes that their child’s bus will not run.

Brown said she is thankful for the parents and neighbors who have pitched in to help get students to school and assured the committee that the school is notifying parents as quickly as possible about cancellations.

The district has eight open positions. In early November, Brown said there were four openings. In a conversation following the meeting, she confirmed that bus drivers have left the school district in the past month, two as recently as last week. Both took jobs at different districts.

As drivers have left, the remaining drivers have been able to absorb the extra students on their runs, Brown said. However, the district has no substitute drivers available. When a driver calls out, the district will be forced to cancel the run.

COVID-19 has not had a significant impact on the driver shortage, Brown said.

Negotiations between the district and the newly-formed bus drivers’ union are ongoing, and there have been “strong feelings” on both sides, she said. She explained that the Auburn district is unable to offer recruitment incentives, as other schools and private companies have, without first negotiating with the union.

Students who are unable to attend school due to transportation problems have received excused absences, Brown said. Attendance on days with canceled bus runs has “held pretty steady.”

School districts across the state have struggled to provide consistent transportation due to problems related to COVID-19 and the shortage of drivers.

The Lewiston school district is also experiencing ongoing transportation problems. At least one van or bus run in Lewiston has been canceled nearly every day for the past three weeks.

In other news, Ward 3 representative Karen Mathieu was unanimously reelected chairwoman. She was first appointed to the School Committee in 2019 and has served slightly more than one full term. Brian Belknap of Ward 4 was elected vice chairman for the first time.

“Thank you all, I appreciate your confidence in my ability to lead this School Committee,” Mathieu said.