Oct. 24—The St. Joseph School District will stick with First Student Transportation to move its kids to and from class through May, but change may be on the horizon.
First Student, based in Cincinnati, Ohio, took over the St. Joseph bus contract in 2022 after it purchased Apple Bus Company of Cleveland, Missouri. First Student is by far the largest school bus firm in the nation, having also acquired Ryder System, Inc. and Laidlaw International over the last 25 years. Yet despite vast resources, First Student, which is paid some $5 million per year to provide, maintain and staff all local school buses, has been having some problems, according to Shannon Nolte.
In essence, more often than would be preferred, a handful of First Student bus drivers will not be available to work, and the district must scramble to cover that gap. District staff are authorized to drive a bus for individual trips when needed.
"Our relationship with First Student is good, but — and I think they will tell you this, too — there have been times where we had route difficulties," said Nolte, director of non-academic student services. One of his roles is to enforce the bus contract. "We've just had a rough start to the year."
First Student declined to give an interview. The company said it appreciates its partnership with the district.
"We anticipated there would be an RFP process and welcome the opportunity to submit a competitive and comprehensive proposal that will outline our plans to further enhance transportation to the district and their families," a spokesperson said.
The bus company was a topic of discussion Monday at the St. Joseph Board of Education meeting, but it did not appear to have any employees present. The board will select from competitive bids by the end of December, after they are returned in mid-November. A new contract would take effect on July 1, 2024.
"I'm hoping that through this bid process, there is, there are strategies that are revealed by a company that they're going to use to recruit and retain enough bus drivers to make their bid work," Nolte said Tuesday.
Nolte emphasized that it would be incorrect to view this as any kind of inevitable departure from First Student. The new contract could very well be done with them. The underlying problem is a nationwide driver shortage that has been present since at least 2017. The early hours, relatively low pay and stressors involved with caring for and managing child passengers are known discouraging factors for potential drivers.