The school bus might not come, Kansas City area district warns, due to staff shortage
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COVID-19 safety in schools
For the new school year, as COVID-19 cases are surging and hospitals are turning away patients, Kansas City area districts are making decisions about safety.
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The Raytown school district is alerting parents that they should plan an alternative way to get their kids to school. Due to staffing shortages, the district warns that one day, the school bus might not come.
“We are taking every action possible to ensure every student who needs transportation receives service. However, we may have to temporarily cancel routes as staffing shortages are increasingly impacting our ability to effectively run routes at our current capacity,” district officials wrote in a notice to families.
Across the country, school districts are struggling to maintain bus routes with a limited number of drivers. Some were out of the job last year when classes went online as COVID-19 spiked. Some didn’t return this year due to fears about the virus. And hiring new licensed drivers is challenging with labor shortages industry-wide.
In a national survey of student-transportation coordinators, more than half of the respondents said their school bus driver shortages were “severe” or “desperate.” In the Midwest, 77% of respondents said they had altered transportation service.
In Raytown, officials warned parents that they might be notified the day prior or the morning of that their student’s bus route is canceled.
“Cancellations would last no longer than 24 hours; however, a route may be canceled several times over the course of this school year, as the pandemic continues to impact our operations. Please be prepared to have an alternative transportation plan for your student should we need to temporarily cancel their route.”
Officials said they are using “every available staff member to cover routes.”
Food shortages lead to reduced options
Like other districts, Raytown also faces a food supply shortage, similar to those experienced by restaurants and distributors elsewhere in the industry.
Shortages have been worsened by employees falling ill with COVID-19 or being required to quarantine, district officials said.
The district is temporarily suspending its a la carte meals for all students. And the after-school meal program is suspended for pre-K and elementary school students until further notice, effective this week.
Officials said if staffing challenges continue, the district might temporarily suspend after-school meals for older students as well.
Other districts in the Kansas City area are putting out similar warnings.
The Park Hill district, for example, notified parents last week that it is “suffering major setbacks from the hiring crisis.” Officials said in a newsletter that the district had 69 open positions, including 19 in nutrition services.
“But the problem goes even deeper,” officials wrote. “This summer, the state of Missouri let us know that we would not be getting hundreds of cases of fruits, vegetables, turkey, beef, ham, burgers, cheese, flour and pasta that we counted on from the commodity foods program. Because this affects all Missouri schools, districts are trying to find other food distributors. However, distributors are experiencing both food and labor shortages, so they can’t fulfill all their existing orders.”
The district said that its food distributor canceled its delivery at the end of last month, “leaving us to scramble for other food to feed our students.”
“Other distributors have completely canceled their contracts with school districts,” they wrote.
Park Hill officials said they will rely on stockpiled food in the district’s warehouse.
“But this food won’t last long without other sources, so we’re looking for other distributors. We’re even temporarily turning to local grocery businesses.”
The district is revising its menus with fewer meal options.
Districts across the region are making similar decisions.
And as COVID-19 cases continue to surge, and with hundreds of students and staff members falling ill or being required to quarantine, school officials worry that it will only become harder to keep school doors open.
This story was originally published September 9, 2021 at 11:50 AM.
