VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. — The Volusia County School District is hitting an all-time low for bus drivers. 

What You Need To Know

As more students move to face-to-face learning, the district is in desperately in need of more bus drivers. 

Many school bus drivers are feeling the strain. Kimberly Mayfield has been a school bus driver in Volusia County for the last 33 years, but she says this year has been the hardest. 

“We have combined runs. We are running extra routes. We are still covering the everyday issues as far as breakdowns and problems on top of trying to cover the extra routes,” she said.

The district's student transportation director explained that they've never had so few drivers. 

“We’ve gone, at one point from 215 route drivers — started this year with 202, and currently we are at 180 route drivers,” said Mitch Moyer, the Director of Student Transportation for Volusia County Schools

He explained that the pandemic has a lot to do with it

“Last March until the present, I lost 15 drivers who had 15 years experience or more. They were concerned about health, and so that is very difficult to replace," said Moyer. 

Now, the district has 22 open positions for drivers. While they were managing earlier in the year, with more children returning to school in person, it is causing them to have to “double up” bus routes. 

Moyer said that can lead to students getting dropped off late, causing them to miss out on class time. For Mayfield, who takes pride in her work, that is not a good position to be in. 

“The trying to get there just knowing that they are going to be late, and that bell is going to ring any minute. And they are still on this bus, you know five, ten miles away, the tension it just adds to the stress level on top of everything else,” said Mayfield. 

If the district doesn’t fill the open positions, officials are concerned it will only get worse next school year, when even more kids are expected to head back to the classroom. 

“Most certainly in the fall, I will not be able to adequately service that anticipated growth with 180 drivers. It won’t happen,” said Moyer. 

They are desperate to get these spots filled now. All you need is to be 21 or over and have a high school diploma. Volusia County Schools takes care of the rest, including training. Starting pay with no experience is $13 dollars per hour. 

The district said the positions come with:

  • Paid training for bus operators
  • Paid training for bus attendants
  • Full-time benefits, including health, dental, life insurance, and retirement
  • A flexible schedule
  • Weekends, holidays and the summer off

“If you call today and you show interest, we should be able to have you out the door and ready to drive in four weeks,” said Moyner. 

For more information, contact the district at  386-258-4677, ext. 50535, studenttransrecruit@volusia.k12.fl.us, or via the Volusia County Schools website.