Fox C-6 School District Superintendent Paul Fregeau said officials are considering numerous options to allow every student to be able to receive transportation services this school year.
Fregeau said the district has contacted bus service companies, such as First Student and Huskey Bus Services, to contract drivers to operate Fox C-6 buses this school year.
He also said the district is analyzing its bus drivers’ hourly wages and benefit packages, and determining how many students are actually using transportation services since the school year began.
Fox C-6 has had no-transportation zones for several school years, and Fregeau said the size of the zones are similar to recent school years.
“It is still a hardship for people,” Fregeau said. “Even one is too many.”
Since the school year began on Aug. 25, Fox C-6 has provided transportation services to all students at six of its 17 schools.
For the other 11 schools, no-transportation zones were created due to a lack of bus drivers.
Fox C-6 Transportation Director Gary Cross said the no-transportation zones for elementary schools extend up to a mile from the schools, and the no-transportation zones for the middle and high schools extend up to 3 miles from the schools.
State statute allows school districts to create no-transportation zones up to 3 1/2 miles from a school.
Fox C-6 schools that have no-transportation zones include: Fox, Guffey, Rockport Heights, Seckman, Sherwood and Simpson elementary schools; Antonia, Fox, and Seckman middle schools; and Fox and Seckman high schools.
Fox C-6 schools that do not have no-transportation zones are: Antonia, Clyde Hamrick, Hodge, Lone Dell and Meramec Heights elementary schools; and Ridgewood Middle School.
Two parents complained about the district’s inability to provide transportation services for all students during the Sept. 1 Board of Education meeting at the Fox C-6 Service Center in Arnold.
Without bus services, the parents said, students and families in no-transportation zones are struggling to safely get children to schools.
“I want to thank the two parents who took the time to meet with me,” Fregeau said during the board meeting. “We had a very cordial and respectful conversation. We didn’t have a ton of solutions, and they brought some solutions. I didn’t have a ton of answers for them, and I recognized that.”
On Sept. 1, Fregeau told board members that Fox C-6 needed to hire at least eight more bus drivers to provide transportation services to all students requesting to be driven either to school in the morning, home from school in the afternoon or both.
Cross said 6,638 of the district’s 10,103 students have requested transportation services this school year. However, he said students were still enrolling as of Sept. 3.
Cross said Fox C-6 is unable to provide transportation for more than 1,000 students.
Cross said the district had 56 bus drivers as of Sept. 3, and on Sept. 1, Fregeau said three drivers were currently on long-term leave.
“That hurt as far as our ability to staff,” he told the board. “We also had 17 drivers retire in the last four years. Those are all factors that have led to this.”
Solutions
On Sept. 1, Fregeau said the district had five potential bus drivers at various stages of the process to be hired to work at Fox C-6.
Nathan Burch, assistant superintendent of human resources, told the board that driver applicants need to provide up-to-date resumes for the district to be able to provide the appropriate hourly wage for their experience. He also said applicants go through a background check and complete physicals and a drug screening test.
Burch said a hiring specialist works with the potential drivers to help them complete the hiring process. The candidates also need to be trained and pass a test to receive a commercial driver’s license, Fregeau said.
“They can’t just fill out an application to be hired,” he said. “Hopefully, they will all get through and pass the tests, and we’ll be able to have them onboard soon.”
Tracy Schmidt, Fox C-6 chief operations officer, said the district has received a quote from Huskey for the potential cost to use that company’s drivers. He said the district had not received the same information from First Student as of Sept. 1.
If Fox C-6 used one of those two services, Fregeau said, it would be similar to a deal the district has with HES Facilities Management, which provides custodial workers at that company’s hourly wage when Fox C-6 needs additional custodians.
Fregeau said Fox C-6 officials also are comparing the district’s starting bus driver pay, which is $20.33, and benefits package to other comparable districts. Fox C-6 bus drivers may earn up to $25.92 per hour depending on experience.
“Other (districts) pay benefits, but I don’t know what those packages involve,” Fregeau said.
He also said the district is reviewing how many students who had requested bus service before the school year started are using the service.
“People sign up for buses in June or July, and then things happen and they no longer need the bus,” he said. “We still have them in the system, and we have to route them. Once those people stop showing up for a couple days then we can add more people to the bus.”
Problem
Fox C-6 is not unique with its struggle to hire bus drivers.
A 2026 report produced by HopSkipDrive, a school rideshare company, said 71 percent of districts throughout the country have experienced at least one documented consequence of not having enough bus drivers in the past year, including longer ride times, missed pickups, staff burnout or the elimination of transportation for extracurricular activities.
The report also said 54 percent of district administrators surveyed said they have been asked to reduce transportation costs or operate within a tighter budget in the past two years.
Fregeau said it does not make a difference that nearly all districts are grappling with bus driver issues.
“It doesn’t make a difference if everybody else is short 50 bus drivers, and we are only short eight,” he said. “It is personal. It is their kid, and we need to find a way to take care of their kid. I understand that. I hear them and understand the issue.”
Burch said anyone interested in becoming a bus driver may apply through the district’s website, foxc6.org, or the district’s employment opportunities website, foxc6.schoolspring.com.
He also said potential driver candidates may call 636-296-8000 for additional information.