The first day of classes is coming quickly for Jefferson County schools, yet some districts are struggling to find enough bus drivers to get students to school.
After trying to hire more bus drivers, the Festus R-6 School District has again hired a transportation company to provide supplemental bus services, and the Fox C-6 School District has again designated certain areas as no transportation zones.
Other districts, like the Northwest R-1 and De Soto school districts, have enough regular school bus drivers but are finding it difficult to hire substitute drivers.
Festus
The Festus School District, which enrolls 3,422 students, will pay Huskey Trailways of Festus, a charter bus rental company, $800 per route per day to handle two routes, Festus Superintendent Nicki Ruess.
“Huskey did two routes last year,” said Kevin Pope, the district’s communications coordinator.
The Festus School District has 29 bus drivers and would need two more to cover all its routes, Ruess said.
The Festus School District projects spending $2,920,682 on transportation this school year, Ruess said.
Jonathan T. Earnhart, the Festus School District’s assistant superintendent of human resources and finance, said the district pays starting bus drivers $23 an hour, yet it has not been enough to attract enough people to fill jobs.
“We have tried communicating openings in the newspaper, on Indeed (an online job site), the radio and job boards,” Earnhart said. “We have created positions that combine bus driving and custodial work to give full-time opportunities and increased driver pay.”
Those interested in a Festus R-6 bus driver job may apply online at applitrack.com/festus/onlineapp.
Fox
The Fox C-6 School District will start the school year with 63 drivers and is short eight to 10 drivers, said Gary Cross, the district’s director of transportation.
“If we are not able to hire the necessary number of drivers, we will once again have to implement no transportation zones throughout the district,” Cross said.
On the transportation page on the Fox district’s website, foxc6.org, the district has posted no-transportation zones for schools. Each school has an interactive map that families may check to see if their homes are inside or outside the zones.
The schools that have no-transportation zones include Fox, Guffey, Lone Dell, Meramec Heights, Rockport Heights, Seckman, Sherwood and Simpson elementary schools; Antonia and Fox middle schools; and Fox and Seckman high schools.
Seckman Middle School has a proposed no-transportation zone, and Antonia and Clyde Hamrick elementary schools, along with Ridgewood Middle School, do not have no-transportation zones.
“There are a multitude of factors in determining the amount and area of these zones. Number of drivers, grade level, area, road conditions, distance from school, etc.,” Cross said of how no-transportation zones are drawn.
The largest school district in the county with more than 10,500 students, the Fox School District spans more than 60 square miles across a mix of rural and suburban communities.
“For the 2023-2024 school year, we drove 1.02 million miles. We had 60 routes and each route had several tiers,” Cross said.
“The total transportation budget is $4.7 million in 2024-2025 compared to $5.2 million in 2023-2024,” said Amy Vandevender, chief financial officer for the Fox School District. “Fuel costs in 2023-2024 was $457,303, and maintenance was $554,995.”
“We are not budgeting as much money for new buses for the upcoming school year,” Cross said.
He said starting pay for bus drivers in the Fox School District is $18.33 an hour.
“We are trying several strategies to recruit drivers. We have job fairs, utilize several large signs around the district, hold ‘Come Drive a Bus’ events, have a referral program and use job listing sites like Indeed,” Cross said.
To apply for open Fox C-6 jobs, go to the district’s website at foxc6.tedk12.com/hire/index.aspx.
Northwest
The Northwest School District, the county’s second largest district with about 5,800 students, has a $6,013,000 contract with Durham School Services of House Springs, a union bus service company, to transport students to and from school during the regular school year and summer school for the 2024-2025 school year. Durham also transports students to and from activities.
“Northwest has used Durham for a few years now,” said Jennifer Younkins, director of administrative services. “This past year, there were 74 bus routes. Altogether, they covered 953,540 miles.”
“We have enough drivers right now to cover all the routes, which could change come August. We are hopeful it will not,” said Maria Deacon, general manager for Durham School Services.
“Durham has 77 drivers assigned to the Northwest School District, with three in training to become drivers,” Deacon said. “We are still hiring for substitute drivers.”
New bus drivers for Durham start out making $18.50 an hour, and drivers with experience can make up to $26.50 an hour, Deacon said.
“Wages will be going up this next school year with the new contract,” Deacon said. “Those wages are still being decided.”
For Northwest R-1 bus driver jobs, go to durhamschoolservices.com or call 636-552-9235. For other jobs, go to northwestschools.net and click on career opportunities.
De Soto
The De Soto School District, which enrolls about 2,500 students, is also hiring substitute bus drivers.
“We are fully staffed with 25 full-time bus drivers to cover our 25 routes,” said Eric Young, director of transportation. “There are four substitute drivers, though we can always use more. We are continuously looking for individuals interested in serving as substitute bus drivers to assist during unexpected shortages.”
The smaller De Soto school district is seeing an increase in its transportation budget this school year.
“In fiscal 2024, the total money spent was $1.7 million. Maintenance was $146,838, and fuel was budgeted at $225,000,” the district’s transportation director Young said. “The budget for 2025 is $1.9 million with $95,000 for maintenance and $225,000 for fuel.”
The De Soto School District pays starting bus drivers $17.75 per hour, and that rate rises for drivers after they have 10 years’ experience, Young said.
The job requirements to be a bus driver are similar across the districts interviewed for this story. Drivers must have a class B commercial driver’s license, called a CDL. They may be tested on their skills driving a school bus. They also must pass a background check and physical and alcohol/drug tests that are given to all school employees.
To apply for a De Soto School District bus driver job, contact Eric Young at 636-586-1078 or Young.Eric@Desoto.k12.mo.us. For other jobs, contact Joshua Phipps at 636-526-1002 or Phipps.Joshua@Desoto.k12.mo.us.
Other hiring issues
Some of the county’s school districts also are having difficulties hiring enough people for custodial, food service and playground/lunchroom aide jobs.
The Northwest School District increased its hourly pay for these jobs in March to help the district be more competitive. The pay rate for a starting cook or cashier went to $13.50 per hour from $12.30; custodians increased to $13.75 an hour from $13; and playground/lunchroom aides went to $14 an hour from $13.32.
“Right now, it’s a competitive job market. Unemployment is low. Everyone is hiring, and jobseekers have a greater choice when it comes to where they work,” said Mark Catalana, the Northwest district’s chief human resources officer. “This is a problem throughout the education field and even with private businesses.”
Fox Superintendent Paul Fregeau agreed.
“I would say it is a workforce issue that all entities are dealing with at this time,” he said.
“We are short custodians and food service workers. We are short in our classroom paraprofessionals as well,” said Kelly Bracht, Fox’s assistant superintendent for human resources.
The Festus School District has two openings for custodians and two for cook/server jobs, Earnhart said.
De Soto is hiring custodians, cafeteria/recess aides and classroom paraprofessionals. Starting custodians will earn $13.53 per hour and $14.34 per hour for evening custodians. The starting pay for paraprofessionals is $14.39 to $14.94 an hour based on experience. Full-time custodians and paraprofessionals receive medical, dental and life insurance benefits.
“Unfortunately, we are currently short-staffed by four custodians
districtwide,” said Joshua Phipps, De Soto’s assistant superintendent of school operations. “We are currently seeking candidates for cafeteria/recess aides, as well as full-time custodians and paraprofessionals.”
